Presentations from Target NEO Workshop (22 February 2011): Providing a Resilient NEO Accessibility Program for Human Exploration Beyond LEO

Presentations from the recent TargetNEO workshop are now online.

Target NEO: Providing a Resilient NEO Accessibility
Program for Human Exploration Beyond LEO
Open Global Community NEO Workshop
February 22, 2011, 8 am – 6:30pm
George Washington University

- Session Summaries

Summaries of the various sessions are followed by detailed presentations at the sessions:

Session 2: The NEO Population: Knowns and Unknowns
2 - Summary

Session 3: Mission Design: Getting There and Back
3 - Summary

Session 4: NEO Characteristics for Safe and Meaningful Human Exploration
4 - Summary

Session 5: Mission Duration: Quantifying the Risks
5 - Summary

Session 6: Affordable Options for Increasing the Accessible NEO Catalog
6 - Summary

- Detailed Session Presentations

Session 1: Introduction, Workshop Scope, Overview of Flexible Path Vision
Session Moderator: John Logsdon, George Washington University, Faculty, Space Policy Institute

-Thomas Jones, Veteran Astronaut, Senior Research Scientist, Florida Institute for Human & Machine Cognition; “NEO Search Required for Operations & Exploration Risk Reduction”
1 - Jones

- Scott Pace, George Washington University, Director, Space Policy Institute; “Sustainable Human Space Exploration”
1 - Pace

- Dave Korsmeyer, Chief, Intelligent Systems Division, NASA Ames Research Center, NASA Analysis Lead: Augustine Committee Flexible Path Option; “The Augustine Commission and the Flexible Path
1 - Korsmeyer

Session 2: The NEO Population: Knowns and Unknowns
Chairs: Andy Cheng, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and Lindley Johnson, NASA Headquarters, Science Mission Directorat

- Session Introduction
2 - Intro

- Tim Spahr - Director, Minor Planet Center, SAO; “MPC Operations and Update”
2 - Spahr

- Don Yeomans - Program Scientist/Mgr., NASA NEO Program Office, Jet Propulsion Laboratory; “Precision NEO Orbit Prediction at JPL”
2 - Yeomans

- Scott Stuart - Deputy PI, LINEAR, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Lincoln Laboratory; “Searching for NEOs”
2 - Stuart

- Amy Mainzer – WISE Deputy Project Scientist, Jet Propulsion Laboratory; “Space-based NEO Detection and Tracking, NEOWISE and Beyond”
2 - Mainzer

- Al Harris - NEO Population Studies, Consultant; “NEO Population Estimates
2 - Harris

Session 3: Mission Design: Getting There and Back
Chairs: Brent Barbee, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and Dan Adamo, NASA
Johnson Space Center, ret., Consultant

- Session 3 Introduction
3 - Intro

- Damon Landau, Outer Planet Mission Analyst, Jet Propulsion Laboratory; “NEO Trajectories on a Flexible Path to Mars”
3 - Landau

- Bret Drake, Architect, Exploration Missions and Systems Office, NASA Johnson Space Center; “Architectures for Human Exploration of Near-Earth Asteroids”
3 - Drake

- Ron Mink, Mission Systems Engineer, Mission Systems Engineering Services & Advanced Concepts Branch, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center; “Enabling Affordable Human Asteroid Missions by 2025”
3 - Mink

- Josh Hopkins, Principal Investigator for Advanced Human Exploration Missions, Lockheed-Martin Space Systems Company; “Short, Simple Asteroid Missions: The Plymouth Rock Approach”
3 - Hopkins

- Chel Stromgren, Chief Scientist for Strategic Analysis, SAIC; “Getting to the Starting Line: Launch and Assembly Reliability for Deep Space Missions”
3 - Stromgren

Session 4: NEO Characteristics for Safe and Meaningful Human Exploration
Chairs: Andy Rivkin, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and Paul Abell, NASA Johnson Space Center

- Session 4 Introduction
4 - Intro

- Patrick Michel, Senior Researcher, University of Nice, CNRS, Cote d’Azur Observatory; “Physical Properties of NEOs: Current Knowledge from Observations, Simulations, and Their Possible Influence for the Design of a Human Mission”
4 - Michel

- Lance Benner, Research Scientist, Jet Propulsion Laboratory; “Arecibo and Goldstone Radar Characterization of NEO Mission Targets”
4 - Benner

- Joe Nuth, Senior Scientist, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center; “Do we Really Understand the Rocks that Astronauts Might be Visiting?”
4 - Nuth

- Dan Scheeres, Professor, Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences, University of Colorado; “The Asteroid Surface Environment, Knowns and Unknowns”
4 - Scheeres

- Mike Hess, Chief of the EVA, Robotics, and Crew Systems Operations Division, NASA Johnson Space Center; “Extravehicular Activity Considerations for Near-Earth Object Operations”
4 - Hess

Session 5: Mission Duration: Quantifying the Risks
Chairs: Dan Mazanek, NASA Langley Research Center and Rob Landis, NASA Ames Research Center

- Session 5 Introduction
5 - Intro

- Craig Kundrot, Deputy Program Scientist, Human Research Program, NASA Johnson Space Center; “Long Duration Space Missions: Human Subsystem Risks and Requirements”
5 - Kundrot

- Jack Stuster, Vice President, Principal Scientist & Author, Anacapa Sciences, Inc.; “Acceptable Risk: Human Missions to Near-Earth Objects”
5 - Stuster

- Ron Turner, Fellow, Analytical Services, Inc. (ANSER); “Radiation Risks and Challenges Associated with Human NEO Missions”
5 - Turner

- Andy Thomas, Astronaut (STS/MIR/ISS), ESMD Architecture Development, NASA Johnson Space Center; “Some Crew Perspectives of a NEO Mission”
5 - Thomas

Session 6: Affordable Options for Increasing the Accessible NEO Catalog
Chairs: Rich Dissly, Ball Aerospace and Ken Hibbard, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory

- Session 6 Introduction
6 - Intro

- Andy Cheng, Chief Scientist, Space Department, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory; “NEO Orbit Simulation Approach”
6 - Cheng

- Lynne Jones, LSST Solar System Project Scientist, University of Washington; “NEO Detection Capabilities of LSST”
6 - Jones

- Ken Hibbard, Senior Spacecraft Systems & Operations Engineer, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory; “NEAR-Earth Survey Telescope (NEST) Human Robotic Precursor Mission Concept”
6 - Hibbard

- Amy Mainzer – WISE Deputy Project Scientist, Jet Propulsion Laboratory; “Next-Generation Space-Based IR NEO Surveys”
6 - Mainzer

- Robert Arentz, Adv. Systems Manager, Ball Aerospace; “A Candidate NEO Survey Mission for Affordable Human Spaceflight Target Assurance
6 - Arentz

Link: TargetNEO Website

RAGE game by id Software (takes place after Apophis Impact)

The new first person shooter game, RAGE by id Software has an interesting back story, from Wikipedia...

The game is set in a post-apocalyptic wasteland created by an asteroid impact, based on the real life asteroid Apophis, which is on track to pass near Earth in 2036. In Rage's story, the asteroid hits, and the few pockets of survivors are forced to start a new civilization.

From the RAGE game site...

August 23, 2037: Apophis 99942 strikes the eastern hemisphere.

Carrying the force of 2.4 million megatons, 30% of life on Earth becomes extinct in 26 seconds.

Within one year 80% of all life is gone. To make matters worse, Apophis contained large amounts of heavy elements. Darkness blankets the planet. The Earth falls into an impact winter lasting almost 50 years and life on the surface is driven to the brink.

Prior to impact, in an effort to save human civilization, Arks are constructed and buried deep underground. These cryogenic lifeboats carry humanity's future, preserved with the tools they need to rebuild. They are the seeds of Earth's rebirth.

But when survivors begin to emerge from the Arks, they find the unexpected. Many humans who were above ground during the impact unexpectedly survived, while horrific mutants roam the dead cities. And a mysterious tyrannical government, bent on creating a new world order, has begun the search . . . for you.

Link: Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rage_(video_game))

Link: RAGE game site (id Software)

JPL News Release: "NASA Releases Images of Man-Made Crater on Comet"

Tempel 1 Impact Site. This pair of images shows the before-and-after comparison of the part of comet Tempel 1 that was hit by the impactor from NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft. The left-hand image is a composite made from images obtained by Deep Impact in July 2005. The right-hand image shows arrows identifying the rim of the crater caused by the impactor. The crater is estimated to be 150 meters (500 feet) in diameter. This image also shows a brighter mound in the center of the crater likely created when material from the impact fell back into the crater. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Maryland/Cornell.

Selections from the JPL news release on results of the Stardust-NExT mission...

NASA's Stardust spacecraft returned new images of a comet showing a scar resulting from the 2005 Deep Impact mission. The images also showed the comet has a fragile and weak nucleus.

The spacecraft made its closest approach to comet Tempel 1 on Monday, Feb. 14, at 8:40 p.m. PST (11:40 p.m. EST) at a distance of approximately 178 kilometers (111 miles). Stardust took 72 high-resolution images of the comet. It also accumulated 468 kilobytes of data about the dust in its coma, the cloud that is a comet's atmosphere. The craft is on its second mission of exploration called Stardust-NExT, having completed its prime mission collecting cometary particles and returning them to Earth in 2006.

The Stardust-NExT mission met its goals, which included observing surface features that changed in areas previously seen during the 2005 Deep Impact mission; imaging new terrain; and viewing the crater generated when the 2005 mission propelled an impactor at the comet.

"This mission is 100 percent successful," said Joe Veverka, Stardust-NExT principal investigator of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y. "We saw a lot of new things that we didn't expect, and we'll be working hard to figure out what Tempel 1 is trying to tell us."

Several of the images provide tantalizing clues to the result of the Deep Impact mission's collision with Tempel 1.

"We see a crater with a small mound in the center, and it appears that some of the ejecta went up and came right back down," said Pete Schultz of Brown University, Providence, R.I. "This tells us this cometary nucleus is fragile and weak based on how subdued the crater is we see today."

Engineering telemetry downlinked after closest approach indicates the spacecraft flew through waves of disintegrating cometary particles, including a dozen impacts that penetrated more than one layer of its protective shielding.

"The data indicate Stardust went through something similar to a B-17 bomber flying through flak in World War II," said Don Brownlee, Stardust-NExT co-investigator from the University of Washington in Seattle. "Instead of having a little stream of uniform particles coming out, they apparently came out in chunks and crumbled."

While the Valentine's Day night encounter of Tempel 1 is complete, the spacecraft will continue to look at its latest cometary obsession from afar.

"This spacecraft has logged over 3.5 billion miles since launch, and while its last close encounter is complete, its mission of discovery is not," said Tim Larson, Stardust-NExT project manager at JPL. "We'll continue imaging the comet as long as the science team can gain useful information, and then Stardust will get its well-deserved rest."

Link: JPL News Release ("NASA Releases Images of Man-Made Crater on Comet")

Association of Space Explorers (ASE) NEO Statements at Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space Scientific and Technical Subcommittee Forty-eighth session

The Association of Space Explorers (ASE) had a separate presentation and statement from the recent UN COPUOS meeting in February 2011. A selected highlighted portion from their overall statement (presented by Dr. Thomas Jones) follows...

"ASE respectfully calls on the COPUOS and the international community, especially its member states’ space agencies, to approve the immediate activation of the IAWN [Information, Analysis and Warning network] and MPOG [Mission Planning and Operations group] functional groups, getting on with the important business of NEO warning and deflection mission planning."

Other points from their presentation...

Forward Work on NEO Decision-Making:
- AT14 and space agencies to further develop concepts of IAWN and MPOG
- Mission Authorization and Oversight Group (High-level: Security Council?, Multi-lateral discussions at COPUOS and among member states, agencies)
- Member States & Agencies Cooperate on Technical Research and Programs to Inform Decision-Making

Link: Association of Space Explorers NEO Statement to COPUOS/STSC

Link: Association of Space Explorers NEO Presentation to COPUOS/STSC

UN CONPUOS: Interim report of the Action Team on Near-Earth Objects (2010-2011)

The latest report from the UN COPUOS Action Team on Near Earth Objects has updates on global asteroid detection efforts as well as series of draft recommendations for near Earth object threat mitigation functions. It is noted that many of these draft recommendations are similar to the recommendations the Association of Space Explorers (ASE) have developed. The ASE has a separate presentation and statement from the recent UN COPUOS meeting in February.

Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space
Scientific and Technical Subcommittee
Forty-eighth session
Vienna, 7-18 February 2011
Item 11 of the provisional agenda
Near-Earth objects

Near-Earth objects, 2010-2011
Interim report of the Action Team on Near-Earth Objects

The present interim report is a summary of the input received from members of the Action Team on near-Earth Objects for 2010-2011 and serves as an update to its previous interim report, which covered the period 2009-2010 ((A/ AC.105/C.1/L.301).

Link: Report to COPUOS [PDF]

Link: Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, Scientific and Technical Subcommittee, Forty-eighth session Online Documents

Link: Association of Space Explorers NEO Statement to COPUOS/STSC

Link: Association of Space Explorers NEO Presentation to COPUOS/STSC

Selected Papers from Upcoming 42nd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (7-11 March, 2011)

Sample of interesting papers from upcoming 42nd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, to be held in Texas on March 7–11, 2011. Many papers on asteroids and only a selection are provided here (with short abstracts):

Los Alamos RAGE Hydrocode Simulations of Effective Mitigation of Porous PHO Objects [#1145]
Weaver R. P. Plesko C. S. Dearholt W. R.
We use the RAGE hydrocode to simulate surface/subsurface explosive mitigation of nonspherical asteroid models. The current simulations incorporate nonuniform composition, porosity of the object, and various depths of burial of the explosive and show effective mitigation.

Energy Deposition in Hazard Mitigation by Nuclear Burst: Sensitivity to Energy Source Characteristics, Geometry, and Target Composition [#2588]
Plesko C. S. Weaver R. P. Huebner W. F.
We present hydrocode and particle transport code models of energy deposition from nuclear bursts onto materials relevant to PHO mitigation. We find that momentum transfer is affected by burst geometry and PHO composition.

Near-Earth Asteroid Survey Precursor to Human Exploration [#1820]
Cheng A. F. Rivkin A. S. Hibbard K. Mink R. Barber B. Garvin J. Abell P. Mazanek D. Landis R.
The most urgent knowledge needed to prepare for human spaceflight to a near Earth object is the need to discover a sufficient number of suitable candidate targets. These targets can be discovered quickly and affordably by a space-based telescopic survey.

Program of Automatic Asteroid Search and Detection on Series of CCD-Images [#1140]
Savanevich V. E. Kozhukhov A. M. Bryukhovetskiy A. B. Vlasenko V. P. Dikov E. N. Ivashchenko Yu. N. Elenin L.
The paper presents a brief description of the program, which realized a new method of the finding low contrast moving objects for automatic asteroid detection by small telescopes, equipped with CCD cameras. The result of program usage is presented.

A Tool for the Visualization of Small Body Data [#1618]
Kahn E. G. Barnouin O. S. Buczkowski D. L. Ernst C. M. Izenberg N. Murchie S. Prockter L. M.
This paper describes a new software tool called the Small Body Mapping Tool that was developed to facilitate the task of searching, visualizing, and analyzing data returned from small body missions.

A Rover Simulation Tool for Small Body Exploration [#1960]
Harada T. Kitazato K. Hirata N. Demura H. Asada N.
We have developed a simulation tool of the hopping rover for small body exploration. This simulator implements physics-based computing of the rover motion and its visualization.

Albedo and Taxonomic Class Relationships of Near-Earth Objects Observed by the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) [#1219]
Maleszewski C. K. Jr. Masiero J. McMillan R. S. Mainzer A. Scotti J. V. Larsen J. A. WISE Team
This poster is a status report on a project that will determine the relationship between taxonomic class and albedos of NEOs using those observed by WISE. The completion of this study will constrain the physical properties and compositions of NEOs.

Link: The 42nd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference

JPL News Release: Comet Hunter's First Images on the Ground

NASA's Stardust-NExT mission transmitted the first image it took during its approach to comet Tempel 1 at 8:35 p.m. PST (11:35 p.m. EST) on Feb. 14, 2011, from a distance of approximately 2,462 kilometers (1,530 miles). The comet was first visited by NASA's Deep Impact mission in 2005. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell

Link: JPL News Release ("Comet Hunter's First Images on the Ground")

NASA FY2012 Budget and NEO Program (Increase from About US$6 M to US$20M)

The recent NASA FY2012 Budget request from President Obama has been released. Some quick highlights related to NEOs. It looks as if the Near Earth Object Observations (NEOO) program will have its budget increased from US$5.8M in FY2010 (and similar amount in FY2011 due to the Continuing Resolution) to approximatively a little over US$20M in FY2012. From the recent budget release from NASA:

Near Earth Object Observations (NEOO) program

- Budget Authority, $ in millions

Actual FY2010: US$5.8 M
FY2011: Continuing Resolution (CR)
FY2012: US$20.4 M
FY2013: US$20.5 M
FY2014: US$20.6 M
FY2015: US$20.7 M
FY2016: US$21.1 M

The NEOO project detects and tracks at least 90 percent of the near Earth objects (NEOs)-- asteroids, and comets that come within 1.3 astronomical units of the Sun. It's long term goal is to find those of at least 140 meters in size that have any potential to collide with Earth and do significant damage to the planet. In the course of this effort, initial characterization of NEOs that could be viable targets for robotic and crewed exploration will also occur. In accordance with the findings and recommendations of the January 2010 NRC study on the NEO hazard, NEOO will continue to:

- Collect, archive, and analyze the small body data collected by NASA's WISE mission, and support increased follow-up and analysis of this data;

- Enable collection of NEO detection and characterization data by ground-based systems, including the U.S. Air Force's (USAF) Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Reporting System (Pan-STARRS) and investigate the use of other USAF space surveillance assets for this mission;

- Support the continued operation of planetary radar capabilities at the NSF's Arecibo and NASA's Goldstone facilities; and

- Investigate both ground and space-based concepts for increasing capacity to detect, track and characterize potentially hazardous objects down to sizes 140 meters and below.

More information on NASA's NEO program is available at http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/.

Link: NASA Budget Documents

Link: FY 2012 Complete Budget Estimates (8.2 MB PDF)

Update from JPL on Stardust-NExT

This composite image was taken by NASA's Stardust spacecraft 42 hours before its encounter with comet Tempel 1. It is the last image by the spacecraft's navigation camera before its encounter in the evening hours of Feb. 14, 2011. The image is a composite of four, five-second exposures. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell

From the news release...

As of today, Feb. 14, at 9:21 a.m. PST (12:21 p.m. EST), NASA's Stardust-NExT mission spacecraft is within a quarter-million miles (402,336 kilometers) of its quarry, comet Tempel 1, which it will fly by tonight. The spacecraft is cutting the distance with the comet at a rate of about 10.9 kilometers per second (6.77 miles per second or 24,000 mph).

The flyby of Tempel 1 will give scientists an opportunity to look for changes on the comet's surface since it was visited by NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft in July 2005. Since then, Tempel 1 has completed one orbit of the sun, and scientists are looking forward to discovering any differences in the comet.

The closest approach is expected tonight at approximately 8:40 p.m. PST (11:40 p.m. EST).

During the encounter phase, the spacecraft will carry out many important milestones in short order and automatically, as the spacecraft is too far away to receive timely updates from Earth. These milestones include turning the spacecraft to point its protective shields between it and the anticipated direction from which cometary particles would approach. Another milestone will occur at about four minutes to closest approach, when the spacecraft will begin science imaging of the comet's nucleus.

The nominal imaging sequence will run for about eight minutes. The spacecraft's onboard memory is limited to 72 high-resolution images, so the imaging will be most closely spaced around the time of closest approach for best-resolution coverage of Tempel 1's nucleus. At the time of closest encounter, the spacecraft is expected to be approximately 200 kilometers (124 miles) from the comet's nucleus.

The mission team expects to begin receiving images on the ground starting at around midnight PST (3 a.m. on Feb. 15 EST). Transmission of each image will take about 15 minutes. It will take about 10 hours to complete the transmission of all images and science data aboard the spacecraft.

Live coverage on NASA TV and via the Internet begins at 8:30 p.m. PST (11:30 p.m. EST) from mission control at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. Coverage also will include segments from the Lockheed Martin Space System's mission support area in Denver. A post-flyby news conference is planned on Feb. 15 at 10 a.m. PST (1 p.m. EST).

Link: JPL News Release ("NASA Spacecraft Hours From Comet Encounter").

07 July 2010 or 07 July 2011 Meeting between Russia and the European Union on Joint Asteroid Mission?

Recent articles have indicated that there will be a meeting on July 7, 2011 between Russia and the European Union on a potential joint mission (to Apophis?). However articles from 2010 indicate that a similar meeting was held on July 7, 2010. Are the recent set of articles on the 2011 meeting referring instead to the 2010 meeting.

Selections from an article below that talks about a 2011 meeting...

As more astronomers are recognizing the danger, a major summit has been called. “Russian space officials and members of the European Commission will meet in early July to discuss joining forces against thousands of potentially hazardous asteroids,” Anatoly Perminov, the head of the Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos stated in an official press release.

A meeting scheduled for July 7, 2011 will consider a proposal to launch a joint asteroid project between Russia and the European Union.

In an interview on Russian television following the press release, Perminov said, “I received a letter, in which the European Commission proposes to meet on July 7 in Roscosmos with scientists and engineers of the Federal Space Agency, the Russian Academy of Sciences and other institutions and organizations. At the meeting, the Russian bid to start a joint project with the EU will be considered.”

Link: Article on January 31, 2011 ("Russian scientists predict asteroid strike")

link: Article on June 24, 2010 ("Russia, Europe may join forces to protect Earth from asteroids")