Near-Earth asteroids observation system in cislunar space

Abstract

One major threat to humanity is the impact of near-Earth asteroids (NEAs). Planetary defense is a shared responsibility of all human beings to protect our home planet. For planetary defense, we must first set up an asteroid monitoring system. At the moment, asteroid monitoring mostly relies on ground-based optical systems. Because of the limitations of optical observation conditions, asteroids from the sunward direction during the daytime cannot be detected and tracked in time during the day. Due to its specific location advantages, an appropriate space-based monitoring system would be a useful supplement to the ground-based observation system. In this paper, the problems and shortcomings of the ground-based monitoring system, as well as the benefits and drawbacks of space-based telescopes, were summarized. The mission concept of space-based telescopes for NEAs observation based on the L4 and L5 point orbits of an Earth-Moon system is proposed. Furthermore, suggestions for international cooperation are made. This research will be useful in the future when building the NEAs monitoring system.