U.S. near-earth object surveillance
This proposal requests support for the participation of US scientists on the Near Earth Space Surveillance (NESS) Science Team of the Near-Earth Object Surveillance Satellite (NEOSSat) mission, funded by the Canadian Space Agency and Defense Research and Development Canada. Development of the NEOSSat micro-satellite as a dual use mission has begun (the PDR was 21 - 22 April 2008) with launch currently anticipated for early 2010.
The NEOSSat mission represents the first comprehensive, synoptic, space-based, visual imagery survey over a large region of the sky and will concentrate on regions of the sky not well-suited to observing from the ground. In particular, it will more efficiently search near-Sun regions (to within 45-deg of the Sun) than ground-based systems. NEOSSat is a dual use mission and will also track high altitude satellites and space debris.
NEOSSat is capable of observing over half the asteroids in Aten-class orbits with diameters greater than 1 km within three years of operation and about a third of the Atira population as well.
The NEOSSat mission will make an impact upon NEO exploration by finding numerous NEO's and thus directly supports the NASA Science Plan given in ROSES-2008 Table 1: "Advance scientific knowledge of the origin and history of the solar system, the potential for life elsewhere, and the hazards and resources present as humans explore space." and the Director's statement (in the 2006 NASA Strategic Plan) committing NASA to: "... a new journey of exploration of the solar system, beginning with the return of humans to the Moon by the end of the next decade, and leading to subsequent landings on Mars and other destinations, such as near-Earth asteroids."
NEOSSat project data will be archived at the Canadian Astronomical Data Centre (CADC - http://www2.cadc-ccda.hia-iha.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/cadc/). Because the CADC is not a member of the International Planetary Data Alliance and therefore, archiving data at the CADC would not meet NASA archiving requirements, we will archive all relevant NEOSSat project data in the NASA Planetary Data System's Small Bodies Node. These data will include value-added products produced by US Team members. Together, these NEOSSat mission data products will provide significant value to the rest of the US planetary science community.
The NEOSSat mission represents the first comprehensive, synoptic, space-based, visual imagery survey over a large region of the sky and will concentrate on regions of the sky not well-suited to observing from the ground. In particular, it will more efficiently search near-Sun regions (to within 45-deg of the Sun) than ground-based systems. NEOSSat is a dual use mission and will also track high altitude satellites and space debris.
NEOSSat is capable of observing over half the asteroids in Aten-class orbits with diameters greater than 1 km within three years of operation and about a third of the Atira population as well.
The NEOSSat mission will make an impact upon NEO exploration by finding numerous NEO's and thus directly supports the NASA Science Plan given in ROSES-2008 Table 1: "Advance scientific knowledge of the origin and history of the solar system, the potential for life elsewhere, and the hazards and resources present as humans explore space." and the Director's statement (in the 2006 NASA Strategic Plan) committing NASA to: "... a new journey of exploration of the solar system, beginning with the return of humans to the Moon by the end of the next decade, and leading to subsequent landings on Mars and other destinations, such as near-Earth asteroids."
NEOSSat project data will be archived at the Canadian Astronomical Data Centre (CADC - http://www2.cadc-ccda.hia-iha.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/cadc/). Because the CADC is not a member of the International Planetary Data Alliance and therefore, archiving data at the CADC would not meet NASA archiving requirements, we will archive all relevant NEOSSat project data in the NASA Planetary Data System's Small Bodies Node. These data will include value-added products produced by US Team members. Together, these NEOSSat mission data products will provide significant value to the rest of the US planetary science community.
