ZTF ACHIEVED FIRST LIGHT IN SEPTEMBER 2017 AND HAS BEEN IN NOMINAL SCIENCE OPERATIONS SINCE LATE FEBRUARY 2018. ZTF IS FUNDED ROUGHLY EQUALLY BY NSF UNDER MSIP (MID-SCALE INSTRUMENTATION PROGRAM) AND BY A CONSORTIUM OF PARTNERS LED BY CALTECH. ZTF USES A NEW CAMERA WITH A 47 SQUARE DEGREE FIELD OF VIEW MOUNTED ON THE SAMUEL OSCHIN 48-INCH SCHMIDT TELESCOPE ON PALOMAR MOUNTAIN. ZTF'S EXTREMELY WIDE FIELD AND FAST READOUT ELECTRONICS ENABLE SURVEYING MORE THAN 3750 SQUARE DEGREES PER HOUR DOWN TO A DEPTH OF 20.4 AB MAG (R-BAND). ZTF BENEFITS FROM THE SUBSTANTIAL INVESTMENT IN PTF/IPTF OVER THE LAST DECADE AND BUILDS ON EXPERTISE GAINED DURING THAT TIME IN PLANNING FOR EFFICIENT OPERATIONS AND A RELIABLE DATA SYSTEM. FOR 40% OF THE SURVEY TIME ZTF EMULATES THE LSST CADENCE IN ITS SURVEY DESIGN. MORE INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE AT HTTP://WWW.PTF.CALTECH.EDU/ZTF WE PROPOSE TO ENHANCE EXISTING SOFTWARE SO AS TO ENABLE ROBUST EFFECTIVE ASTEROID FINDING IN PARTICULAR FAST-MOVING ASTEROIDS APPEARING AS TRAILED IMAGES; TO OPERATE THIS SOFTWARE SYSTEMATICALLY TO FIND AND CHARACTERIZE ASTEROIDS FROM ALL ZTF DATA; TO TRIGGER SAME-NIGHT FOLLOWUP OF POTENTIAL NEW OBJECTS; TO ORGANIZE DEDICATED CAMPAIGNS AIMED AT MAXIMIZING NEO YIELD AND AT TESTING SURVEY PARAMETERS FOR THESE CAMPAIGNS; AND TO COORDINATE WITH THE NEO COMMUNITY AND PROGRAM ON HOW BEST TO UTILIZE ZTF IN SUPPORT OF THAT PROGRAM.
$395,594FY2020National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA
California Institute Of Technology, Pasadena CA