EU-ESA Workshop on NEO Imminent Impactors Warning Coordination

Projected Imminent Impactor discovery performance of current and future ground-based telescopes, including ESA’s Flyeye network

13 Dec 2022, 10:35

20m

Room H.I (ESOC)

Session #2: Observatories and observation networks

Speakers

D. Föhring (ESA) L. Conversi (ESA) M. Micheli (ESA)

Description

One of the major goals of ESA’s Planetary Defence Office is to discover Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) imminently before impact. Currently existing survey telescopes include ATLAS, Pan-STARRS and Catalina are contributing to a large number of new NEO discoveries each year, but to date, only five NEOs have been discovered before impact.

We present simulations carried out using a theoretical population of imminent impactors to assess the capability of surveys to detect them. For existing surveys, past pointings are taken from the Minor Planet Center’s database, while for the upcoming surveys using Vera Rubin Observatory and the Flyeye Telescopes, pointings are generated based on their planned strategies.

The results include the number of imminent impactors each survey would detect, and with how many days of warning. The simulation is used to give an indication of the ideal location for the Flyeye Telescopes, by finding the place where the detection rate is maximised. The effect of the observations from the Vera Rubin Observatory on the Flyeye survey is discussed.

Presentation materials

S2_P4_Fohring.pdf