Finding Hazardous Asteroids Using Infrared and Visible Wavelength Telescopes (2019) / Chapter Skim
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Currently, NASA funds a network of ground-based telescopes and a single, soon-to-expire space-based asset to detect and track large asteroids that could cause major damage if they struck Earth. In 2018, NASA asked the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to establish the ad hoc Committee on Near Earth Object Observations in the Infrared and Visible Wavelengths to investigate and make recommendations about a space-based telescope's capabilities, focusing on the following tasks: • Explore the relative advantages and disadvantages of infrared (IR)
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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 Earth. It shall be the goal of the Survey program to achieve 90 percent completion of its near Earth object catalogue (based on statistically predicted populations of near Earth objects)
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Brown Act goal more quickly than currently considered alternatives.5 (See Appendix C for a summary table of advantages and disadvantages of ground- and space-based options for infrared and visible observations of NEOs.) The committee found that in-space infrared telescopes • Are more effective at detecting NEOs than visible wavelength in-space telescopes, • Provide diameter information that visible wavelength telescopes cannot provide, and • Do not cost significantly more than in-space visible wavelength telescopes (a primary driver of space telescope cost is aperture)
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The design parameters, such as wavelength bands, field of view, and cadence, should be optimized to maximize near Earth object detection efficiency for the relevant size range and the acquisition of reliable diameters. For more than a decade, NASA has provided technology development funding for a space-based, passively cooled, thermal-infrared telescope designated NEOCam, but has not pursued this project to full-scale development.
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, a report that prioritizes the planetary science program and exerts great influence on the selection of Discovery mission proposals, explicitly does not address "issues relating to the hazards posed by near Earth objects and approaches to hazard mitigation."7 As a result, there is a bias against selection of planetary defense-focused missions in this program or any other program without an explicit planetary defense component. Recommendation: Missions meeting high-priority planetary defense objectives should not be required to compete against missions meeting high-priority science objectives.
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Near-Earth Object Survey Act, should be archived in a publicly available database as soon as practicable after it is obtained. NASA should continue to support the utili zation of such data and provide resources to extract near Earth object detections from legacy databases and those archived in future surveys and their associated follow-up programs.
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