Comments on: NASA Administrator Bridenstine Endorses the NEOCam Mission https://nss.org/nasa-administrator-bridenstine-endorses-the-neocam-mission/ The National Space Society Mon, 20 May 2019 17:52:47 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.6.2 By: Don Nelson https://nss.org/nasa-administrator-bridenstine-endorses-the-neocam-mission/#comment-631 Mon, 20 May 2019 17:52:47 +0000 https://space.nss.org/?p=42180#comment-631 What if they find an asteroid/comet that has an impact trajectory toward earth…then what? see NASA Letters.

]]> By: Robert Perry https://nss.org/nasa-administrator-bridenstine-endorses-the-neocam-mission/#comment-630 Fri, 10 May 2019 21:03:45 +0000 https://space.nss.org/?p=42180#comment-630 One more important note – NEAs are typically at Earth’s distance from the Sun and are quite warm, easily detectable with a space based IR telescope. NEOCam is based around a 16 megapixel IR sensor that Dr. Mainzer and her team have developed. That sensor can operate at 35 Kelvin, a temperature achievable with passive systems – no exotic refrigeration with consumable cryogenics required. NEOCam should be able to search for ten year. Details at Planetary Defense Conference 2013 Amy Mainzer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqJwqiGXJv8 @ 1:40, especially 3:16 and 4:47

]]> By: Robert Perry https://nss.org/nasa-administrator-bridenstine-endorses-the-neocam-mission/#comment-629 Thu, 09 May 2019 23:20:14 +0000 https://space.nss.org/?p=42180#comment-629 I certainly hope NEOCam is fully funded. NEOs must be found, there _are_ PHAs, and eventually there will be another asteroid on the way to being a major impactor. We “might” be able to do something about it, but only if we know about it well in advance of an impact. The count of NEAs follows a logarithmic scale – there are many in the Tunguska Event class, and many, many more in the Chelyabinsk Event class. The discovery rate of one kilometer and larger NEAs is down to a trickle but the discovery rate of “small” NEAs is quite high – see https://cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/stats/totals.html and note the slopes for the 140+ class and for the ones smaller than 140 meters. The ones in the smaller class are discovered by Earth based telescopes only when they pass by closely, when they are near “full moon” phase and the short distance increases their intensity. There are many recent discoveries in the “monthly” list of flybys posted at http://www.spaceweather.com/ (the discovery date is coded in the temporary name).

Close approaching asteroids are listed at
https://cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/ca/
and
https://minorplanetcenter.net/iau/TheIndex.html ==>
https://minorplanetcenter.net/iau/lists/PHACloseApp.html

So far, we’ve been “lucky”.

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