HAMMER (spacecraft)

Hyper-velocity Asteroid Mitigation Mission for Emergency Response (HAMMER) is a concept study by NASA on a spacecraft (8 tonnes) capable of detonating a nuclear bomb to deflect an asteroid, if it was on a collision course to Earth. The study is a collaboration between the National Nuclear Security Administration, NASA, and two Energy Department weapons labs.[1][2][3]

## Bennu

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NASA is working on a modelling study that considers the asteroid 101955 Bennu, which has a diameter of 246 meters and capable of a 1.15 gigaton impact, as a modelling target for the HAMMER concept.[4][5] It is circling the Sun at 63,000 mph and 54 million miles from the Earth.[6]

The two realistic responses considered in the study are the use of a spacecraft functioning as either a kinetic impactor or a nuclear explosive carrier to deflect the approaching asteroid.[7]

## See also

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* Asteroid impact avoidance
* Planetary defense

## References

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1. ^ Khartoum, Sarah (15 March 2018). "Nasa draws up plans for huge spacecraft to blow up doomsday asteroid". The Telegraph. Retrieved 17 March 2018.
2. ^ Vergano, Dan (7 March 2018). "Government Scientists Have A Plan For Blowing Up Asteroids With A Nuke". BuzzFeed. Retrieved 17 March 2018.
3. ^ Parsons, Jeff (16 March 2018). "NASA building 'HAMMER' spacecraft to save Earth from cataclysmic asteroid impact". Mirror. Retrieved 17 March 2018.
4. ^ Whitwam, Ryan (9 March 2018). "NASA Designs HAMMER Spacecraft to Deflect or Nuke Dangerous Asteroids". ExtremeTech. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
5. ^ Vergano, Dan (7 March 2018). "Government Scientists Have A Plan For Blowing Up Asteroids With A Nuke". BuzzFeed. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
6. ^ "NASA May Build 'HAMMER' Spacecraft To Blow Up Earth-Bound Asteroid". NDTV. 16 March 2018. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
7. ^ Barbee, Brent W.; Syal, Megan Bruck; Dearborn, David; Gisler, Galen; Greenaugh, Kevin; Howley, Kirsten M.; Leung, Ron; Lyzhoft, Josh; Miller, Paul L.; Nuth, Joseph A.; Plesko, Catherine; Seery, Bernard D.; Wasem, Joseph; Weaver, Robert P.; Zebenay, Melak (2018). "Options and uncertainties in planetary defense: Mission planning and vehicle design for flexible response". Acta Astronautica. 143: 37–61. Bibcode:2018AcAau.143...37B. doi:10.1016/j.actaastro.2017.10.021.

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* t
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Planetary defense

Main topics|

* Asteroid
* Bolide
* Earth-grazing fireball
* Impact event
* Meteor air burst
* Meteor procession
* Meteor shower
* Meteorite
* Meteoroid
* Near-Earth object
* Potentially hazardous object

Defense|

* Asteroid impact avoidance
* Asteroid laser ablation
* Gravity tractor
* Ion-beam shepherd
* Asteroid close approaches
* Earth-crossing minor planets
* Damage scales
* Palermo scale
* Torino scale

Space probes|

* Dawn
* Deep Impact
* HAMMER
* AIDA
* Hera
* DART
* Halley Armada
* Hayabusa
* Hayabusa2
* MASCOT
* NEAR Shoemaker
* NEA Scout
* New Horizons
* OSIRIS-REx
* PROCYON
* Rosetta
* Philae
* Stardust

NEO tracking|

* ATLAS
* Catalina Sky Survey
* LINEAR
* LONEOS
* NEAT
* NEODyS
* NEO Surveyor
* NEOSSat
* OGS Telescope
* Orbit@home
* Pan-STARRS
* SCAP
* Sentinel Space Telescope
* Sentry
* Spacewatch
* WISE

Organizations|

* B612 Foundation
* Japan Spaceguard Association
* Meteoritical Society
* NEOShield
* Spaceguard
* The Spaceguard Foundation
* Space Situational Awareness Programme
* Planetary Defense Coordination Office

Potential threats|

* 1950 DA
* 101955 Bennu
* 2010 RF12
* 99942 Apophis

Related categories|

* Impact events
* Fiction about meteoroids
* Fiction about impact events

* v
* t
* e

Spacecraft missions to minor planets and comets

* List of minor planets and comets visited by spacecraft
* List of artificial objects on extraterrestrial surfaces

Active|

* New Horizons (multiple flybys)
* OSIRIS-APEX (orbiter)
* Hayabusa2♯ (lander)
* Lucy (multiple flybys)
* Psyche (orbiter)

Past|

| Flybys|

* Cassini–Huygens
* Chang'e 2
* Clementine†
* CONTOUR†
* Deep Impact
* EPOXI
* Deep Space 1
* Galileo
* Halley Armada
* Giotto
* Sakigake
* Suisei
* Vega 1
* Vega 2
* International Cometary Explorer
* LICIACube
* NEA Scout†
* NEAR Shoemaker
* Pioneer 7
* PROCYON†
* Rosetta
* Stardust
* Ulysses

|

Orbiters|

* Dawn
* NEAR Shoemaker
* Rosetta
* Timeline

Landers|

* Hayabusa
* MINERVA†
* Hayabusa2
* MASCOT
* Rover-1A / HIBOU
* Rover-1B / OWL
* Rover-2†
* NEAR Shoemaker
* Philae

Impactors|

* Deep Impact
* DART

Sample return|

* Hayabusa
* Hayabusa2
* Stardust
* OSIRIS-REx

Planned|

* Hera (orbiter, 2024)
* AIDA
* DESTINY+ (multiple flybys, 2025)
* Tianwen-2 (multiple flybys and sample return, 2025)
* MBR Explorer (multiple flybys and orbiter, 2028)
* Comet Interceptor (flyby, 2029)

Proposed|

* ASTER (orbiter, 2021)
* Athena (flyby of Pallas, 2022)
* Shensuo (flybys, 2024)
* Centaurus (multiple flybys, 2026–2029)
* Chimera (orbiter, 2025)
* CORSAIR (sample return)
* HAMMER (nuclear impactor concept)
* MANTIS (multiple flybys)
* OKEANOS (multiple flybys and sample return, 2026)
* World Is Not Enough (spacecraft refueling concept)
* Interstellar Probe (flyby, 2030–2042)

Cancelled or
not developed|

* AGORA
* AIM
* Asteroid Redirect Mission
* CAESAR
* Castalia
* Clementine 2
* Comet Hopper
* CONDOR
* CRAF
* Don Quijote
* Hayabusa Mk2
* Janus
* MAOSEP
* Marco Polo
* New Horizons 2
* Vesta

Related|

* Asteroid belt
* Asteroid capture
* Asteroid mining
* Colonization of asteroids
* Ceres
* Pluto
* Exploration
* Small Solar System bodies
* Near-Earth object
* Trans-Neptunian object
* Colonization
* Trojan
* Vesta

* Probes are listed in chronological order of launch. † indicates mission failures.

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