Loading sources for seismological investigations of near-Earth objects Original Research Article

Asteroids and comets that are near the orbit of the Earth are commonly called near-Earth objects (NEOs), and there is some concern that Earth might be struck by such a body. If a body were discovered on a collision course with Earth, the issue of mitigation arises. There are essentially two thoughts on mitigation: destroy it or move it out of the way. Both ideas on mitigation rely on knowledge of the composition and internal structure of the asteroid or comet. In particular, the density, strength, and cohesiveness of the body need to be known. Seismology is a way to determine such information. This paper explores both explosives and impactors as seismic sources, and quantifies the source through downward momentum and the moment in the perpendicular directions. Experiments were performed looking at explosive placement, and computations agreed well with the experimental results.