In the fast-moving world of worry about rocks from space that are harmful to Earth, there’s growing support for putting in place a space-based near Earth object (NEO) hunter capability.
One idea that is percolating in scientific circles is placement of an infrared imaging telescope in a Venus-like heliocentric orbit. It would be a high-tech spotter scope, geared to look for NEOs.
One concept is called NEO Survey, sketched out by experts at Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation in Boulder, Colorado.
The proposed spacecraft draws from the firm’s expertise in working on the Hubble Space Telescope, the Kepler exo-planet hunter, the Spitzer infrared telescope, the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, as well as the company’s comet-smacking Deep Impact spacecraft and in building WorldView-2, a high-resolution commercial remote sensing satellite for DigitalGlobe.
If NEO Survey moves from powerpoint to actual building, such a spacecraft could perform multiple duties within 7-8 years.
- The NEO catalog would contain somewhere between half a million and a million new objects.
- The spacecraft would support NASA’s interest to fly both robotic and human expeditions to select asteroids.
- Additionally, NEO Survey would help orchestrate a planetary defense response if any Earth-threatening NEOs are found.
“This mission is greater than just a NASA-only topic,” explains a Ball Aerospace white paper on NEO Survey. By supporting the space agency’s Exploration Systems Mission Directorate’s (ESMD) desires to eventually fly a human mission to a NEO, “this mission helps engage the world’s imagination on a visceral level of discovery…an instinct that is uniquely human.”
By Leonard David