Combined Emerging Capabilities for Near-Earth Objects (NEOs)

Stefanie Milam,T Grav,D Woods,M Brozovic,H.B Hammel,V Reddy,J Bauer,B J Holler,T Spahr,M E Schwamb,C A Thomas,C Lisse,A Mainzer

doi:10.3847/25c2cfeb.572baf8b

Abstract

Assess the joint capabilities of emerging telescopes for near-Earth objects (NEOs) survey and characterization, and what they will add to the current capabilities or replace. NASA telescopes in prime mission, in development, or under study, and requested for this assessment, include: - The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) - The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) - The Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) - The Near-Earth Object Camera (NEOCam). Also requested for this assessment is the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), an 8.4-meter ground-based telescope in development by the National Science Foundation and Department of Energy (DOE), with the capability to discover and catalogue NEOs.

Highlights

Near-Earth objects (NEOs) are asteroids and comets that have their perihelion distance less than 1.3 au
While the current surveys cannot reach 90% completeness for potentially hazardous asteroids (PHAs) ≥140m within the few decades, emerging assets will provide some capability
It has been assumed that absolute visible magnitude H

Summary

Introduction

Near-Earth objects (NEOs) are asteroids and comets that have their perihelion distance less than 1.3 au. While the current surveys cannot reach 90% completeness for potentially hazardous asteroids (PHAs) ≥140m within the few decades, emerging assets will provide some capability. NearEarth Object Surveillance Mission (NEOSM – formerly NEOCam) is a dedicated NEO survey optimized for high survey completeness for PHAs ≥140m that will detect hundreds of thousands of smaller objects.

Results

Conclusion