Lindley Johnson
Planetary Science Division
NASA HQ
21 June 2012

US component to International Spaceguard Survey effort
Has provided 99% of new detections of NEOs since 1998
Began with NASA commitment to House Committee on Science in May, 1998
– Averaged ~$4M/year Research funding 2002-2010
– 400% plus-up to $20M in President’s 2012 budget submittal
Scientific Objective: Discover 90% of NEOs larger than 1 kilometer in size within 10 years (1998 – 2008)
NASA Authorization Act of 2005 provided additional direction)
“… plan, develop, and implement a Near-Earth Object Survey program to detect, track, catalogue, and characterize the physical characteristics of near-Earth objects equal to or greater than 140 meters in diameter in order to assess the threat of such near-Earth objects to the Earth. It shall be the goal of the Survey program to achieve
90 percent completion of its near-Earth object catalogue within 15 years [by 2020].
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(Current Systems)
Minor Planet Center (MPC)
• IAU sanctioned
• Int’l observation database
• Initial orbit determination www.cfa.harvard.edu/iau/mpc.html
NEO Program Office @ JPL
• Program coordination
• Precision orbit determination
• Automated SENTRY http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/
Catalina Sky
Survey
NEO-WISE
End of
Operations
Feb 2011,
Analysis
Of Data
Continues
JPL
Sun-synch LEO
Pan-STARRS
MIT/LL
Soccoro, NM
UofAZ
Arizona & Australia
Haleakula, Maui

Known Near Earth Asteriod Population
Start of
NASA NEO
Program

Known Near Earth Asteroid Population
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Spaceguard Survey Catalog Program
Current Spaceguard Survey Infrastructure and Process
Survey,
Detect,
& Report
Correlate, Determine
Rough Orbit
Observations and
Update Orbit
Radar
Routine
Processing
Publish
Results
No
Possible
New PHO?
No
Yes
Potential
Impact?
Survey Systems
Minor Planet Center
JPL NEO Office*
* In parallel with NEODyS
Yes
Resolve
Result
Differences
Publish
Results
No
Yes
Iterate
Impact
Still
Possible?
Precision Orbit and Follow Up
Observations
Publish/
Update
Results
Alerts to
NASA HQ
• MPC - PHO of interest
• MPC possible close approach
• JPL - reports potential for impact
•
JPL publishes probability of impact
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(Current Systems)
Minor Planet Center (MPC)
• IAU sanctioned
• Int’l observation database
• Initial orbit determination
NEO-WISE
End of
Operations
Feb 2011,
Analysis
Of Data
Continues
NEO Program Office @ JPL
• Program coordination
•
JPL
Sun-synch LEO
Several Professional Observatories http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/
Pan-STARRS
Survey
•
Numerous Amateur Astronomers worldwide provide high-precision observations to fill critical gaps
MIT/LL
Soccoro, NM
UofAZ
Arizona & Australia
Haleakula, Maui

Observations on the limited accessible objects
– 20 to 30 NEOs/year from Goldstone and Arecibo
– Required for timely precision orbit determination
– Characterization with sufficient signal strength
• Shape, spin-state, surface structure
• Satellites (an then derived mass)
Study of Shape, Size, Motion and
Mass of 66391 (1999 KW4)
Shape, Size of
6489 Golevka
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2005 YU55 Approach to Earth Nov. 8, 2011
C-type asteroid
Diameter ~400 meters
Earth & Moon close approach
Extensive radar, visual and infrared observations were obtained.

Arecibo Observes Newly Discovered 2012 LZ
2012 LZ1 was found to be about 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) in its largest dimension. It must be quite dark, reflecting only 2-4% of the light that hits it.
The image shows that it is fairly spherical and rotates in about 10-15 hours. Image was taken when the asteroid was 10 million kilometers (6 million miles) away, and the resolution is 7.5 m (25 feet).
2012 LZ1 was discovered 10 June 2012 by
Siding Spring Observatory in Australia.
Classified as a potentially hazardous by the Minor Planet Center because its orbit brings it close to Earth (within 20 lunar distances). Arecibo observed this asteroid on 19 June 2012 to measure its orbit more precisely, and to determine its size, rotation rate and shape.
2012 LZ1 is twice as large as originally estimated based on its brightness, large enough to have serious global consequences if it were to hit the Earth.
However, the new orbit solution based on radar measurements shows that this object does not have any chance of hitting the
Earth for at least the next 750 years.

•
DARPA funded project
•
Designed and built by MIT/LL
•
Same division as LINEAR
•
Located Atom Peak, WSMR, NM
•
3.6 meter primary mirror
•
First Light was Feb 2011
•
Started 1 year of checkout
•
Eventual operations by AFSPC
•
First of 3 to 4 worldwide sites
•
Serendipitous detection of NEOs in background mode to space surveillance
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Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System –ATLAS*:
A project to patrol the entire night sky every night in search of incoming asteroids
A geographically dispersed network (> 6 sites) of small coupled telescopes observing “shallow but wide” to provide more complete sky coverage for warning of near-term impact threats
Proposed ATLAS telescope design
*Courtesy University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy

A National Science
Foundation Project
Initial Operations 2019?
6.4-m effective diameter
10 sq deg field of view ugrizy optical filters
18,000 square degrees ++
2x15s exposures + 2 more within 60 minutes
Survey entire visible sky every
3-4 days in 2 filters for 10 years
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• A NEO survey telescope will discover highly accessible NEO targets suitable for human exploration in a timely manner.
– Optimized for detection of objects in Earth-like orbits within two years of launch
– Launch ready in 4 to 5 years with low risk
• The survey will include follow-up of all detected objects, plus characterization (size, rotation rate) of selected objects .
Picture Study Description Survey
Type
NEOCam/JPL
NEOStar/BATC
NEST – L2/APL
NEST -
Venus/APL
•Sun-Earth L1 orbit
•Mid-IR
•50cm aperture
•Trailing Venus orbit
•Mid-IR
•50cm aperture
•Sun-Earth L2 orbit
•Visible
•90cm aperture
•Trailing Venus orbit
•Mid-IR
•90cm aperture
Sweet Spot
Opposition
Sweet Spot
Opposition
Cost
< $500 M
(excluding launch)
~ $500 M
(excluding launch)
< $500 M
(excluding launch)
~ $500 M
(excluding launch)

Spitzer
X
Kepler
≈
“Sentinel”
NASA has signed a Space Act Agreement to support B612 Project Sentinel
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