Speaker
Description
Most current and planned NEO surveys are ground-based and carried out in the visible wavelength range. However, this approach has some limitations, such as (1) weather dependency, (2) that only a portion of the night sky is visible from any given location on Earth, (3) NEOs are difficult to detect at low galactic latitudes and (4) that visible-light surveys can only determine the motion and apparent magnitude of an object, but its physical properties (such as size) can only be inferred indirectly and therefore require additional observations for characterisation.
A space-based mission working in the thermal infrared and placed at the first Sun-Earth Lagrange point would overcome most of these issues: by regularly scanning an area not easily accessible from ground or other space-based NEO surveys, it will be capable of detecting and characterising new NEOs and - in the worst case of an imminent impactor - serve as an early warning system.
ESA is studying a NEO Mission in the Infra-Red (NEOMIR), designed with the aim of discovering the smaller NEO population, which can only be observed when the asteroids get closer to Earth. This is achieved by (1) pointing closer to the Sun and at all Ecliptic latitudes and (2) shortening exposure times and increasing cadence of revisit, ensuring that faster and therefore closer NEOs crossing the field of regard are not missed.
We will present the mission and spacecraft design, the status of the project as well as initial results on expected detection capabilities.
