EXPLOSION METHOD OF PREVENTING COLLISIONS
OF ASTEROID-COMET BODIES WITH THE EARTH
IN THE CASE OF THEIR LATE DETECTION

V. S. Sazonov and M. V. Yakovlev

UDC 551.510:629.78

Based on the model concepts of destruction of the substance 
of a celestial body in the shock wave initiated by a strong explosion 
of weak penetration, the radius of the destroyed region, the ejected 
mass, and the recoil momentum have been evaluated. The values of the 
charges necessary for destroying completely bodies of different size 
and composition or withdrawing bodies from the Earth for a required 
distance have been determined. The efficiencies of the explosion and 
sublimation methods of changing orbits for the case where the hazardous 
bodies are comets have been compared. Problems on improving the efficiency 
of the explosion method of action on a hazardous body due to the high 
relative velocity of impact of this body with the charge-carrying 
rocket have been discussed.

Central Scientific-Research Institute of Mechanical Engineering, 
4 Pionerskaya Str., Korolev, Moscow Region, 141070, Russia; email: 
tecos@tsk.msi.ru. Translated from Inzhenerno-Fizicheskii Zhurnal, 
Vol. 79, No. 3, pp. 56-67, May-June, 2006. Original article 
submitted November 12, 2004.