Introduction
Statement of Purpose
By 2032, there is a chance (though very small) that a major asteroid could hit the earth. This would cause very many problems, generally. From death, to political instability, to emotional and academic stress. Clearly this poses a very serious potential threat to the safety of things we care about, like all of our students in ECE 110/120 Honors. We propose designing a small scale prototype of a reflecting disk that reflects light from the sun toward a target point. An Arduino IDE based algorithm will be used to calculate the light delay effects and appropriate angle of reflection necessary to direct light at the asteroid.
Background Research
There is a small (roughly 0.002%, about 1 in 63,000) chance that an asteroid, about 1,345 feet in diameter will hit the earth on August 26th, 2032. The impact has the potential energy 50 times greater than the most powerful nuclear weapon ever used. Fifteen million years ago, a 5,000 feet diamter asteroid hit in Bavaria scattering a trillion tons of material all over earth. Remember, we don't want to die like the Dinosaurs. RIP Dinosaurs #RememberTheDinos
NASA has done analysis on the probability of an asteroid hitting the Earth. Our proposed algorithm is based on their research.
Design Details
Block Diagram / Flow Chart
System Overview
The asteroid that is targeted has a diameter of 1,345 feet, a fairly large target. Because of the size of the asteroid, the Arduino needs to take 6 analog inputs from voltage divider circuits to measure photo resistors. This block thus ensures that proper operation parameters are met for the photoresistor to function properly. The output from these block are then used to determine the relative angle of the light based on the difference in intensity as calculated by our Arduino program. The asteroid track camera, a VERY good camera, will allow the Arduino to keep track of the location of the asteroid. Based on these inputs, the Arduino will control a propulsion system to manipulate the reflecting disk to accurately target the light.
A logic circuit will also be created using the output signals of the voltage divider circuits to turn the Arduino and propulsion system off when the light from the sun is too low to have a real impact on the tracking of the asteroid.
Parts
- Reflecting Disk
- Array of light sensors (photo resistors)
- Camera for tracking asteroids
- Satellite signals for controlling reflector disk
- Quantum Gyroscope
- Propulsion system
- Rocket
- Contract with SpaceX for explosion proof rocket
- Logic Gates
- Arduino
- Resistors and wires to build voltage divider circuits
- Insurance #areYouInsured
Possible Challenges
- Budget and getting international agreement for the project.
- Prototyping an effective small scale version
- Having appropriate testing conditions (clear skies, asteroid in visible range for asteroid tracking purposes)
- Developing code to calculate the quantum-mechanical effects and light delay related problems (accessing BlueWater Super Computer).
References
[1]"Small chance a big asteroid could hit Earth in 2032", USA TODAY, 2016. [Online]. Available: http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2013/10/18/asteroid-earth-2032/3007757/. [Accessed: 12- Sep- 2016].
[2]"The Probability of Collisions with Earth", Www2.jpl.nasa.gov, 2016. [Online]. Available: http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/sl9/back2.html. [Accessed: 12- Sep- 2016].
