The SSA-NEO Segment, Aug 2011, D. Koschny, G. Drolshagen - Page 1 The Near-Earth Object Segment of ESA’s Space Situational Awareness programme (SSA-NEO) Overview D. Koschny, G. Drolshagen The SSA-NEO segment shall be aware of the positions and physical properties of near-Earth objects (NEOs). It shall assess their impact probabilities, effects, and possible mitigation activities. © David A. Hardy/

The SSA-NEO Segment, Aug 2011, D. Koschny, G. Drolshagen - Page 2 What is Space Situational Awareness? The objective of the Space Situational Awareness (SSA) initiative is to support the European independent utilisation of and access to space for research or services, through providing timely and quality data, information, services and knowledge regarding the environment, the threats and the sustainable exploitation of the outer space. From the SSA Programme Declaration, ESA/C/SSA-PP(2008)2 We will provide a service to inform the customers (governments, disaster management, scientists, the public/press…) about the situation of natural and artificial objects in space. This will allow us to better protect our satellites and our planet.

The SSA-NEO Segment, Aug 2011, D. Koschny, G. Drolshagen - Page 3 The European SSA Programme Three ‘segments’: Survey and Tracking (of satellites and space debris) Space Weather Near-Earth objects ISS Station from 400 km, VSW Munich, 80 cm aperture <- Proton and electron fluxes (NOAA)

The SSA-NEO Segment, Aug 2011, D. Koschny, G. Drolshagen - Page 4 The European SSA Programme Preparatory phase (2009 – 2012) approved by ESA’s Council meeting on ministerial level in Nov 2008 (50 MEUR) as an optional programme After confirmation: Nominal phase (4 years/7 year slots) Possibly co-funded by EC <- Proton and electron fluxes (NOAA) ISS Station from 400 km, VSW Munich, 80 cm aperture

The SSA-NEO Segment, Aug 2011, D. Koschny, G. Drolshagen - Page 5 The European SSA Programme Network of sensors (ground- and space-based) Data centres Common data policy and standardization <- Proton and electron fluxes (NOAA) ISS Station from 400 km, VSW Munich, 80 cm aperture

The SSA-NEO Segment, Aug 2011, D. Koschny, G. Drolshagen - Page 6 Main requirements The SSA-NEO segment shall provide information on the impact probability and/or miss distances of NEOs including associated uncertainties. To do this properly, it shall assess impact analyses, results, and perform its own impact risk assessments Classify the risk of a NEO impact and issue warnings if the risk is higher than the background risk Carancas crater, Peru, 2007

The SSA-NEO Segment, Aug 2011, D. Koschny, G. Drolshagen - Page 7 System overview Observatories Data Centre Political entities Other users near-Earth objects and other asteroids Minor Planet Center (MPC) Measurements General information Warnings SSA-NEO Segment Jet Propulsion Laboratory

The SSA-NEO Segment, Aug 2011, D. Koschny, G. Drolshagen - Page 8 Current activities Setting up precursor services: Observations with ESA’s 1-m telescope – follow-up and survey NEODyS/Pisa Physical properties database from DLR/EARN => ESA’s Planetary Database Priority list of the Spaceguard Central Node Related studies Demonstrator for autonomous follow-up Polarimetry camera Update population model Mitigation effects/deflection mission Manned missions: Studies in Concurrent Design Facility, more studies on environment to come Defining the full system to fulfil the requirements Data centre (as in precursor service) “Wide survey” Preparation of deflection mission (starting with Don Quijote)

The SSA-NEO Segment, Aug 2011, D. Koschny, G. Drolshagen - Page 9 Potential for collaboration The asteroid impact threat is an international issue: Political discussions, e.g. Mission Planning and Operations Group workshop after this meeting Common mission studies – e.g. ‘Deep Impact’ + ‘Asteroid orbiter’ ≈ Don Quijote Supporting MPC? Data exchange formats, standards (CCSDS)? (Image) data archive? Science mission collaboration (MarcoPolo-R, OSIRIS-REx, Hayabusa-2…) More? Discuss! Acknowledgement Thanks to the Secure World Foundation who provided travel funds.

The SSA-NEO Segment, Aug 2011, D. Koschny, G. Drolshagen - Page 10 Backup slides

The SSA-NEO Segment, Aug 2011, D. Koschny, G. Drolshagen - Page 11 Observations Observations with Optical Ground Station on Tenerife ongoing – 2 nights every 2 weeks, plus one week in 2009, one week in 2010 Focus on: Follow-up from ‘NEOCP’ = NEO confirmation page, i.e. list of recently discovered potential NEOs Follow-up from ‘priority list’ of Spaceguard Main Node, NEOs in need of further observations Photometrical measurements – absolute and relative Testing survey Survey statistics including observations by Kresken/Busch in September 2009, as of 29 Apr 2011 (~100 h) – see to the right Other tests – e.g. astrometric accuracy as a function of pixel scale From:

The SSA-NEO Segment, Aug 2011, D. Koschny, G. Drolshagen - Page 12 Observations continued Survey – planning and processing pipeline by M. Busch, data validation with support of amateur astronomers, mainly from the German Starkenburg Sternwarte Heppenheim Support to La Sagra Sky Survey is being discussed Discovered by R. Kresken + M. Busch, Sep 2009

The SSA-NEO Segment, Aug 2011, D. Koschny, G. Drolshagen - Page 13 NEODyS = NEO Dynamical Site dys/ Duplicate system at Univ. Pisa (I) and Univ. Valladolid (E), A. Milani, F. Bertini, G. Sansanturio, O. Arratia and more computing impact risks for NEOs on a regular basis Keeps risk list and orbital info on all NEOs including uncertainties Daily updates Cross-validation of results with JPL SENTRY system for objects with Palermo Scale > -2 We are in the process of negotiating a Service-Level Agreement with them for the continued maintenance of the systems

The SSA-NEO Segment, Aug 2011, D. Koschny, G. Drolshagen - Page 14 European Asteroid Research Node (EARN) Database of physical properties of NEOs Maintained by Gerhard Hahn, DLR Berlin We are in the process of setting up a Service-Level Agreement with him to in the future maintain the SSA-NEO database (a searchable SQL database) via a dedicated interface

The SSA-NEO Segment, Aug 2011, D. Koschny, G. Drolshagen - Page 15 Planetary Database (PDB) SQL database developed by ASTOS, Germany, for ESA, to store information on solar system objects Initially intended to support mission design Now adapted for use in the SSA-NEO segment

The SSA-NEO Segment, Aug 2011, D. Koschny, G. Drolshagen - Page 16 Spaceguard Central Node priority list Maintained by INAF/Rome, Giovanni Valsecci, Germano d’Abramo Lists NEOs in need of follow-up even after they disappeared from the NEO Confirmation Page Foreseen to be moved to ESRIN during the contract in place for setting up the precursor service (“SN-III”) Service-Level Agreement under negotiation for maintenance

The SSA-NEO Segment, Aug 2011, D. Koschny, G. Drolshagen - Page 17 SSA-NEO © David A. Hardy/