https://doi.org/10.1140/epjs/s11734-023-01016-y
Review
Trajectories for mining space mission on asteroids in near-Earth orbit
1
Guaratinguetá Engineering and Science Faculty, São Paulo State University – UNESP, Av. Dr. Ariberto Pereira da Cunha, 333 - Pedregulho, 12516-410, Guaratinguetá, São Paulo, Brazil
2
Faculty of Technology, Rio de Janeiro State University – UERJ, Avenida Dr Omar Dibo Calixto Afrange, s/n, Rod. Pres. Dutra, km 303 - Polo Industrial, 27537-000, Resende, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Received:
12
May
2023
Accepted:
9
November
2023
Published online:
7
December
2023
Mining asteroids will soon be a reality; the technology for this venture is almost off the shelf depending on the development of artificial intelligence for autonomous robotic spacecraft. In this work, we treat the problem of transporting ores to Earth, mainly to the vicinity of the Moon to avoid any accident of a colliding asteroid. We explore the database for near-Earth objects (NEOs) and choose the best asteroid candidates for mining, based on their orbit. We studied Apollos and Atens groups since they are Earth orbit crossing objects. The main strategy of this work is to obtain trajectories that could lead to a transfer orbit from the current orbit of the asteroid to the vicinity of the lunar orbit. We use the relative two body energy between the Moon and the asteroid to find the best orbit candidates. The best point of the asteroid trajectory is the point that could lead to a less expensive maneuver. We found that there are less than 1 000 asteroids from the Apollo group, and less than 350 asteroids from the Aten group, which could be transferred to a temporary orbit around the Moon with a variation in velocity smaller than 447 m/s. We found a temporary capture of an Apollo asteroid (2015 DO215) around the Moon in the year 
. We also identified, from our numerical simulations, that an asteroid of the Aten group may collide with Earth. Therefore, we propose two mitigation maneuvers to change the probability of collision.
Pryscilla Pires and Silvia Giuliatti Winter have contributed equally to this work.
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© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to EDP Sciences, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2023. Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
