Sentences with phrase «gravity tractor»
A "gravity tractor" is a spacecraft that uses its own gravity to attract and move asteroids or other objects away from their original paths, reducing the risk of collision with Earth. Full definition
The mission could even help to validate a concept known as enhanced gravity tractor.
sciencedaily.com
I know about gravity tractors and mirror arrays, but not spray paint; it goes to show that sometimes seemingly simple solutions can be used to tackle complex problems.
Once retrieved the tug would use the boulder's extra mass to act as a «gravity tractor,» orbiting the asteroid in such a way as to subtly change the asteroid's trajectory.
Lu and Love describe their gravity tractor in this week's issue of the journal Nature.
Still, even though Schweickart loves the idea of a gravity tractor, he thinks most asteroids will need a bigger push than it could easily provide.
The B612 approach is to use something called a gravity tractor — essentially a spacecraft that would pull the object into a new trajectory using only the gravitational attraction between the spacecraft and the object.
Another is what we call a gravity tractor, which is for a more massive asteroid.