Related papers: High Precision Astrometry in Asteroid Mitigation -…
We have carried out simulations to predict the performance of a new space-based telescopic survey operating at thermal infrared wavelengths that seeks to discover and characterize a large fraction of the potentially hazardous near-Earth…
Studies on Near Earth Asteroids (NEAs) throw light on discoveries, identification, orbit prediction and civil alert capabilities, including potential asteroid impact hazards. Due to various new observational programs, the discovery rate of…
High-precision astrometry at the sub-microarcsecond level opens up a window to study Earth-like planets in the habitable zones of Sun-like stars, and to determine their masses. It thus promises to play an important role in exoplanet science…
Multiple terrestrial and space-based telescopes have been proposed for detecting and tracking near-Earth objects (NEOs). Detailed simulations of the search performance of these systems have used complex computer codes that are not widely…
Near-Earth asteroid (410777) 2009 FD is a potentially hazardous asteroid with potential impacts on Earth at the end of the 22nd century. The astrometry collected during the 2019 apparition provides information on the trajectory of (410777)…
We have conducted a detailed simulation of LSST's ability to link near-Earth and main belt asteroid detections into orbits. The key elements of the study were a high-fidelity detection model and the presence of false detections in the form…
Context: Observation of star occultations is a powerful tool to determine shapes and sizes of asteroids. This is key information necessary for studying the evolution of the asteroid belt and to calibrate indirect methods of size…
This paper presents a novel approach to the robust design of deflection actions for Near Earth Objects (NEO). In particular, the case of deflection by means of Solar-pumped Laser ablation is studied here in detail. The basic idea behind…
Near-Earth Asteroids (NEAs) are a key testbed for investigations into planet formation, asteroid dynamics, and planetary defense initiatives. These studies rely on understanding NEA sizes, albedo distributions, and regolith properties.…
Astrometry - the precise measurement of celestial positions and motions - is entering the micro-arcsecond ($\mu$as) era at multiple wavelengths, enabling new insights on compact objects across all mass scales. Here we review how…
We present the preliminary results of an analysis of the sub-populations within the near-Earth asteroids, including the Atens, Apollos, Amors, and those that are considered potentially hazardous using data from the Wide-field Infrared…
Exoplanets mass measurements will be a critical next step to assess the habitability of Earth-like planets: a key aspect of the 2020 vision in the previous decadal survey and also central to NASA's strategic priorities. Precision astrometry…
More than 450 exoplanets are known and this number increases nearly every day. Only a few constraints on their orbital parameters and physical characteristics can be determined, as most exoplanets are detected indirectly. Measuring the…
Automated asteroid detection routines set requirements on the number of detections, signal-to-noise ratio, and the linearity of the expected motion in order to balance completeness, reliability, and time delay after data acquisition when…
We present an automated system called NEORANGER that regularly computes asteroid-Earth impact probabilities for objects on the Minor Planet Center's (MPC) Near-Earth-Object Confirmation Page (NEOCP) and sends out alerts of imminent…
Potentially impacting asteroids were analysed for their impact risk on the Earth. To this end, the Asteroid Risk Mitigation Optimization and Research (ARMOR) tool is currently being developed. The tool's modules are described and their…
This study evaluates a technique for determining the mass of a potentially hazardous asteroid from a high-speed flyby in the context of a rapid reconnaissance planetary defense scenario. We consider a host spacecraft that dispenses a small…
We extend the most recent orbital and absolute magnitude Near Earth Object (NEO) model (Granvik et al., 2018) to provide a statistical description of NEO geometric albedos. Our model is calibrated on NEOWISE albedo data for the NEO…
We are a group of over two dozen astronomers, computer scientists, data scientists and digital Big Data research platform experts at 11 universities and research institutes in South Africa and Europe. We study Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) for…
Near Earth Asteroids (NEAs) are discovered daily, mainly by few major surveys, nevertheless many of them remain unobserved for years, even decades. Even so, there is room for new discoveries, including those submitted by smaller projects…