Gravity tractor | Wikipedia audio article
Channel: wikipedia tts
Date: 04/10/2019

This is an audio version of the Wikipedia Article:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_tractor


00:01:15 1 Advantages
00:02:35 2 Limitations
00:04:08 3 Example
00:04:44 4 References



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Speaking Rate: 0.9911771727898029
Voice name: en-AU-Wavenet-A


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SUMMARY
=======
A gravity tractor is a theoretical spacecraft that would deflect another object in space, typically a potentially hazardous asteroid that might impact Earth, without physically contacting it, using only its gravitational field to transmit the required impulse.  The gravitational force of a nearby space vehicle, though minuscule, is able to alter the trajectory of a much larger asteroid if the vehicle spends enough time close to it; all that is required is that the vehicle thrust in a consistent direction relative to the asteroid's trajectory, and that neither the vehicle nor its expelled reaction mass come in direct contact with the asteroid.  The tractor spacecraft could either hover near the object being deflected, or orbit it, directing its exhaust perpendicular to the plane of the orbit. The concept has two key advantages: namely that essentially nothing needs to be known about the mechanical composition and structure of the asteroid in advance; and that the relatively small amounts of force used enable extremely precise manipulation and determination of the asteroid's orbit around the sun.  Whereas other methods of deflection would require the determination of the asteroid's exact center of mass, and considerable effort might be necessary to halt its spin or rotation, by using the tractor method these considerations are irrelevant.