THE ROCKET CONCEPTION OF CUMULATIVE IMPACT DEFENSE OF THE EARTH AGAINST DANGEROUS SPACE OBJECTS

Asteroids and comets with trajectories intersecting of the Earth repre sent a danger to our planet. Possible ways to prevent a dangerous obje ct from colliding with Earth are splitting or deflecting its trajector y. For that purpose nuclear explosive devices with power up to 10-20 M egatons are proposed to be used. The report based on statistical data processing embracing over 100 potentially dangerous asteroids gives a substantiation of required performances of the Space Rocket Intercepti on Complex - the basic component of the Earth Protection System. The c alculated time of interception and required initial velocity, dependin g on the time left until collision and efficiency of the available nuc lear device, are presented. The report shows the possibility of creati ng an interception complex consisting of a space interceptor with a nu clear explosive device, a booster, a launch-vehicle and supporting sys tems.