NASA mission to track near Earth objects takes shape
A revamped NASA mission to search for near Earth objects from space has secured funding to start development as the agency works out details about how it will be managed.
The fiscal year 2020 "minibus" spending bill signed into law by President Trump Dec. 20 that provides $22.63 billion for NASA includes $35.6 million to start development of the Near Earth Object (NEO) Surveillance Mission. That mission would fly a small space telescope with an infrared camera to discover and track NEOs, helping identify any that pose an impact risk to the Earth.
[...] NEO Surveillance Mission is the successor to NEOCam, a similar mission concept that was one of the finalists in the most recent round of the Discovery program. While NASA did not select NEOCam in early 2017 for development, it did provide funding to allow work to continue on its infrared detectors.
Zurbuchen said at the meeting that the reason for going from NEOCam to NEO Surveillance Mission was because the goals of the mission were not strictly scientific. The mission is designed to meet a congressionally mandated goal to identify all NEOs at least 140 meters in diameter, which represent those large enough to do damage on a regional or global scale in the event of an impact.
"The only reason we want every 140-meter object is not because we need it to do all the science," he said. "It's because we want to understand whether one of them is on a collision course over time to Earth."
Previously: NASA's Asteroid-Finding NEOCam Cancelled
Related: Americans Polled on Attitudes Toward the Space Program
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AP-NORC poll: Asteroid watch more urgent than Mars trip
Americans prefer a space program that focuses on potential asteroid impacts, scientific research and using robots to explore the cosmos over sending humans back to the moon or on to Mars, a poll shows.
The poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, released Thursday, one month before the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, lists asteroid and comet monitoring as the No. 1 desired objective for the U.S. space program. About two-thirds of Americans call that very or extremely important, and about a combined 9 in 10 say it's at least moderately important.
The poll comes as the White House pushes to get astronauts back on the moon, but only about a quarter of Americans said moon or Mars exploration by astronauts should be among the space program's highest priorities. About another third called each of those moderately important.
"More than 80% say the United States is not leading the world in space exploration."
NASA won't launch a mission to hunt deadly asteroids:
NASA says it can't afford to build a space telescope considered the fastest way to identify asteroids that might impact the Earth with terrible consequences.
A 2015 law gave the space agency five years to identify 90% of near-Earth objects larger than 140 meters in diameter, which could devastate cities, regions and even civilization itself if they were to impact the planet. NASA isn't going to meet that deadline, and scientists believe they have so far only identified about a third of the asteroids considered a threat.
Researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, led by principal investigator Amy Mainzer, developed a proposal for a space telescope called NEOCam that would use infrared sensors to find and measure near-Earth objects. The National Academy of Sciences issued a report this spring concluding that NEOCam was the fastest way to meet the asteroid-hunting mandate. But NASA will not approve the project to begin development. "The Planetary Defense Program at NASA does not currently have sufficient funding to approve development of a full space-based NEO survey mission as was proposed by the NEOCam project," a NASA spokesperson told Quartz this week.
The agency said it was prioritizing funding for ground-based telescopes looking for asteroids, though the NAS report concluded that they would not fulfill its mandate. The agency is also funding the Double Asteroid Redirection Test mission (DART), which will pilot the technologies needed to do something about any threatening near-Earth objects. Still, the agency said the infrared telescope proposed for NEOCam "could be ready for any future flight mission development effort."
Near-Earth Object Camera (NEOCam).
See also: Poll: Americans Want NASA To Focus More On Asteroid Impacts, Less On Getting To Mars
Related: Nathan Myhrvold Challenges NASA's NEOWISE Asteroid Results With Peer-Reviewed Paper
SpaceX Drops Protest of "Lucy" Contract, Gets Double Asteroid Redirection Test Contract
Americans Polled on Attitudes Toward the Space Program
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 29 2019, @01:32AM
You'll spoil the surprise if you tell us which asteroid is going to wipe out humanity.
(Score: 2, Informative) by RandomFactor on Sunday December 29 2019, @02:15AM (1 child)
Sounds like the original NEOCam objectives were too scattered.
vs. the Near-Earth Object Surveillance Mission being more strongly focused on the objects presenting threats.
В «Правде» нет известий, в «Известиях» нет правды
(Score: 3, Informative) by Coward, Anonymous on Sunday December 29 2019, @03:23AM
There also are changes to the project management:
(from TFA)
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 29 2019, @03:25AM (2 children)
Patrol near Earth and blow up everything that:
1) Exceeds Speed Limit
2) Exceeds Mass Limits
No need for stinking tickets. If it bad, blow it!
(Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday December 29 2019, @04:02AM
No, there could be gold and platinum in those rocks. Maybe even oil.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 29 2019, @04:46PM
Practice up on your Asteroids game kids. Humanity is in your hands!
If you don't have the game lookup a project called MAME. Open source saves the future!
Go Team GPL!
(Troll? really?)