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The Planetary Society BlogBy Emily LakdawallaEverybody says we need a NEO survey telescopeAug. 30, 2011 | 01:25 PDT | 08:25 UTC
It's rare to hear scientists and human exploration people agreeing on anything, but that's what I've been hearing this week, from two different sources. The point of agreement: the next thing needed by both the small bodies science community and people interested in human exploration is a space-based telescope capable of surveying (and following up on) near-Earth space for asteroids that, for a variety of reasons, haven't been found yet. It echoes a finding made in our Roadmap to Human Space Exploration, developed in 2008 to provide input to Washington in leading us out of the Shuttle era into a new one expanding the presence of humans across the solar system.
A primary conclusion by the participants is the need for a space-based survey telescope to greatly expand the catalog of accessible targets for human exploration. This critical asset should be considered as part of the basic infrastructure to enable human exploration beyond LEO. Such an asset could be rapidly developed and would have cross-cutting benefits across multiple NASA directorates and international space agency interests....The report is pretty interesting, and recommended reading; it provides all kinds of ideas that make me fly off into imaginings of the stories that we may one day be able to tell about when astronauts left our Earth-Moon cradle and explored an asteroid (a future that, rightly or wrongly, I feel is more likely to come to pass in my lifetime than human exploration of the Martian surface). Well, today I've been attending SBAG, the meeting of the NASA-sponsored Small Bodies Analysis Group. "Small bodies" is a term that captures an amazing diversity of objects from near-Earth asteroids to things in the main belt, Trojan satellites of the outer planets, and even beyond Neptune. The main conclusion of this body? The statement is in draft form and likely to be modified somewhat between now and the next meeting, but here's what they say: SBAG endorses primary conclusion of the Target nEO Workshop report that a space-based survey telescope is a foundational asset that enables a robust and sustainable space exploration program.To be fair, a lot of the people who were at that Target NEO workshop are also involved in SBAG. But I still find it striking that a group of scientists who study such a broad array of things across the solar system made the same finding as a group that was focused on human exploration of an asteroid. Of course, if you look at the details the agreement isn't perfect. The human exploration people want to capture a specific set of near-Earth asteroids, ones with orbits that will be very easy to reach -- that is, cheap in terms of fuel, with short-duration missions. The small bodies community wants a broader survey and they don't just want to find and track these things, they also want to learn more about them. So the specific types of missions they advocate will be very different. The Planetary Society has concurred on the need for a space-based survey telescope for a long time. In the meantime, we are doing what we can, with the support of our members, to help with followup studies of recently discovered near-Earth asteroids through our Shoemaker NEO Grant program.
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Good article. Here's an idea that may or may not be feasible with funding laws or institute policies:
Globally schools and other institutions could donate, say $3,000 U.S. Dollars each for a S/C (spacecraft), LV (Launch Vehicle) and FS (Flight Support) fund. This would be hel at their bankinf institution, optonally added to, until globally enough total has been collected for both missions (shared LV a great idea). At a preset time the collected funds would come to TPS and we would immediately donate that money to the S/C designer and the LV manufacturer. This way the mission becomes doable because the funding is there. The two S/C (spacecraft)developements, NEA & DSA (Near Earth Asteroid & Deep Space Asteroid)could be built. The DSA could have a booster to carry both S/C. The NEA (on top of stack) would be jettisoned at it's orbital view point and the DSA would continue to flame out then ride outward to station on an ION engine. The LV may have to be the Ariane 5 but as long as the job gets done. Technology transfer with Homeland Security concerns needs to be negated. International cooperation is what we are about also. I really believe we can make this work at a global level in this bad economy. The international prestige and student excitement, even their $5 donations would help. Collection to funding is met will be short if enough schools and institutions help out. This is doable.
Maybe I should read the workshop report but are we talking about a telescope at an Earth-Sun Lagrange point or in solar orbit to get a different "perspective" from Earth-surface or -orbit telescopes?
http://www.targetneo.org/pdfs/TargetNEOWorkshopReport.pdf