Coherent Low-Force Asteroid Shepherding Mission Concept for Early, Gentle, High-Margin Orbital Deflection (Draft V1)

Planetary-defense strategies commonly emphasize late-stage, high-energy interventions such as kinetic impactors or nuclear stand-off devices. Such approaches introduce fragmentation risk, debris-field uncertainty, geopolitical escalation potential, and narrow operational margins (National Academies of Sciences, 2019; NASA Planetary Defense Coordination Office, n.d.). A complementary architecture centered on coherent, low-force shepherding offers an alternative path. Continuous, precisely guided Δv adjustments applied years to decades before Earth encounter yield large positional shifts with minimal force. Modeling for a representative 140-meter near-Earth object (NEO) indicates displacement of one Earth diameter with total Δv near 0.05 m/s when applied over approximately 10 years, corresponding to average forces in the sub-newton range distributed across multiple spacecraft (Bombardelli & Peláez, 2011; Sánchez & Colombo, 2020). Earlier intervention, gentler thrusting, and continuous control collectively support lower technical risk, higher margins, and cooperative planetary-security frameworks.