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THE MAGDALENA RIDGE OBSERVATORY'S (MRO) STATE-OF-THE-ART 2.4-METER TELESCOPE (MINOR PLANET CENTER OBSERVATORY CODE H01) HAS BEEN CONTRIBUTING FOR OVER A DECADE TO THE NEAR-EARTH OBJECT OBSERVATIONS (NEOO) PROJECT BY SUCCESSFULLY WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP WITH EXISTING SURVEY PROGRAMS TO PROVIDE THE REAL-TIME ASTROMETRIC AND PHYSICAL CHARACTERIZATION FOLLOW-UP REQUIRED. THE 2.4-METER'S LARGE PRIMARY MIRROR SIZE ALLOWS THE FACILITY TO ACQUIRE ACCURATE ASTROMETRY AND IMPORTANT CHARACTERIZATION DATA (COLORS LIGHTCURVES AND SPECTRA) FOR THE FAINTEST AND/OR FASTESTMOVING OBJECTS DETECTED. OUR RAPID-RESPONSE TO TARGETS-OF-OPPORTUNITY SHORTLY AFTER DISCOVERY (UTILIZING FLEXIBLE SCHEDULING) HAS ENABLED US TO TRACK AND CHARACTERIZE THE SMALL END OF THE NEO SIZE DISTRIBUTION DOWN TO OBJECTS JUST METERS IN DIAMETER. AN ADDITIONAL ADVANTAGE OF A LARGEAPERTURE TELESCOPE IS THE ABILITY TO WORK EFFECTIVELY IN LESS THAN PHOTOMETRIC CONDITIONS SO OUR PRODUCTIVITY IS RELIABLY CONSISTENT. OTHER FEATURES OF THE TELESCOPE INCLUDE THE CAPACITY TO ACQUIRE ASTROMETRIC DATA ON VERY LOW-ELEVATION OBJECTS (RELIABLE ASTROMETRIC DATA HAS BEEN COLLECTED AT 5 ELEVATION) A FAST TRACKING/SLEWING CAPABILITY (10 PER SECOND) AND THE ABILITY TO HAVE MULTIPLE INSTRUMENTS MOUNTED SIMULTANEOUSLY ALLOWING FOR ASTROMETRY SPECTROSCOPY AND PHOTOMETRY TO BE DONE ON THE SAME NIGHT. FURTHER THE SEEING AT THE SITE IS USUALLY SUB-ARCSECOND AND THIS CHARACTERISTIC CAN EXTEND TO LOW ELEVATIONS. THIS IS A THIRD SUCCESSOR PROPOSAL (WE HAVE BEEN RENEWED TWICE SINCE INITIAL FUNDING) FOR OUR PROGRAM AT MRO. THE TIME ALLOCATION FOR THIS EFFORT CONTINUES TO BE ROBUST: 8 NIGHTS OF DEDICATED ASTROMETRIC FOLLOW-UP PER MONTH (BASED ON A 10-MONTH NON-MONSOON SEASON) INCLUDING TIME FOR THE COLLECTION OF COMPOSITION/ALBEDO AND SPIN RATE CHARACTERIZATION DATA WHEN INTERESTING OBJECTS ARE FOUND. WITH THIS ALLOTMENT OF EFFORT WE HAVE PREVIOUSLY BEEN ABLE TO DO ASTROMETRIC FOLLOWUP ON MORE THAN 50 UNIQUE OBJECTS PER MONTH AND GET CHARACTERIZATION DATA ON ABOUT 1 OBJECT PER MONTH BASED ON NORMAL WEATHER PATTERNS. THE RESULTING NEW INFORMATION ON ABSOLUTE MAGNITUDES SIZES SHAPES ROTATION RATES COMPOSITIONS AND BINARY OR TUMBLING OBJECTS CONSIDERABLY IMPROVE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE NEO POPULATION DOWN TO ITS SMALLEST MEMBERS. ANOTHER IMPORTANT FEATURE OF OUR PROGRAM IS THAT WE COORDINATE OUR FOLLOW UP EFFORTS WITH OTHER FACILITIES AND ARE COGNIZANT OF THE FACT THAT MANY ASTEROIDS DISCOVERED ARE IN OPTIMAL POSITIONS SHORTLY AFTER DISCOVERY SO TIMELY RESPONSE AND REAL-TIME ADAPTABLE SCHEDULING IS ESSENTIAL. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROPOSED WORK IS THAT IT SUPPORTS THE NEOO PROGRAM'S GOAL OF DISCOVERING AND ACQUIRING ACCURATE ORBITS OF POTENTIALLY HAZARDOUS OBJECTS 140 METERS IN DIAMETER AND LARGER AS WELL AS SUPPORTING THE GOAL OF CHARACTERIZING A REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLE OF SMALL NEOS BY PROVIDING INFORMATION ON THEIR SPIN RATES SIZES SHAPES AND COMPOSITIONS.

$1,458,720FY2020National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA

New Mexico Institute Of Mining And Technology, Socorro NM

Investigators

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THE MAGDALENA RIDGE OBSERVATORY'S (MRO) STATE-OF-THE-ART 2.4-METER TELESCOPE (MINOR PLANET CENTER OBSERVATORY CODE H01) HAS BEEN CONTRIBUTING FOR OVER A DECADE TO THE NEAR-EARTH OBJECT OBSERVATIONS (NEOO) PROJECT BY SUCCESSFULLY WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP WITH EXISTING SURVEY PROGRAMS TO PROVIDE THE REAL-TIME ASTROMETRIC AND PHYSICAL CHARACTERIZATION FOLLOW-UP REQUIRED. THE 2.4-METER'S LARGE PRIMARY MIRROR SIZE ALLOWS THE FACILITY TO ACQUIRE ACCURATE ASTROMETRY AND IMPORTANT CHARACTERIZATION DATA (COLORS LIGHTCURVES AND SPECTRA) FOR THE FAINTEST AND/OR FASTESTMOVING OBJECTS DETECTED. OUR RAPID-RESPONSE TO TARGETS-OF-OPPORTUNITY SHORTLY AFTER DISCOVERY (UTILIZING FLEXIBLE SCHEDULING) HAS ENABLED US TO TRACK AND CHARACTERIZE THE SMALL END OF THE NEO SIZE DISTRIBUTION DOWN TO OBJECTS JUST METERS IN DIAMETER. AN ADDITIONAL ADVANTAGE OF A LARGEAPERTURE TELESCOPE IS THE ABILITY TO WORK EFFECTIVELY IN LESS THAN PHOTOMETRIC CONDITIONS SO OUR PRODUCTIVITY IS RELIABLY CONSISTENT. OTHER FEATURES OF THE TELESCOPE INCLUDE THE CAPACITY TO ACQUIRE ASTROMETRIC DATA ON VERY LOW-ELEVATION OBJECTS (RELIABLE ASTROMETRIC DATA HAS BEEN COLLECTED AT 5 ELEVATION) A FAST TRACKING/SLEWING CAPABILITY (10 PER SECOND) AND THE ABILITY TO HAVE MULTIPLE INSTRUMENTS MOUNTED SIMULTANEOUSLY ALLOWING FOR ASTROMETRY SPECTROSCOPY AND PHOTOMETRY TO BE DONE ON THE SAME NIGHT. FURTHER THE SEEING AT THE SITE IS USUALLY SUB-ARCSECOND AND THIS CHARACTERISTIC CAN EXTEND TO LOW ELEVATIONS. THIS IS A THIRD SUCCESSOR PROPOSAL (WE HAVE BEEN RENEWED TWICE SINCE INITIAL FUNDING) FOR OUR PROGRAM AT MRO. THE TIME ALLOCATION FOR THIS EFFORT CONTINUES TO BE ROBUST: 8 NIGHTS OF DEDICATED ASTROMETRIC FOLLOW-UP PER MONTH (BASED ON A 10-MONTH NON-MONSOON SEASON) INCLUDING TIME FOR THE COLLECTION OF COMPOSITION/ALBEDO AND SPIN RATE CHARACTERIZATION DATA WHEN INTERESTING OBJECTS ARE FOUND. WITH THIS ALLOTMENT OF EFFORT WE HAVE PREVIOUSLY BEEN ABLE TO DO ASTROMETRIC FOLLOWUP ON MORE THAN 50 UNIQUE OBJECTS PER MONTH AND GET CHARACTERIZATION DATA ON ABOUT 1 OBJECT PER MONTH BASED ON NORMAL WEATHER PATTERNS. THE RESULTING NEW INFORMATION ON ABSOLUTE MAGNITUDES SIZES SHAPES ROTATION RATES COMPOSITIONS AND BINARY OR TUMBLING OBJECTS CONSIDERABLY IMPROVE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE NEO POPULATION DOWN TO ITS SMALLEST MEMBERS. ANOTHER IMPORTANT FEATURE OF OUR PROGRAM IS THAT WE COORDINATE OUR FOLLOW UP EFFORTS WITH OTHER FACILITIES AND ARE COGNIZANT OF THE FACT THAT MANY ASTEROIDS DISCOVERED ARE IN OPTIMAL POSITIONS SHORTLY AFTER DISCOVERY SO TIMELY RESPONSE AND REAL-TIME ADAPTABLE SCHEDULING IS ESSENTIAL. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROPOSED WORK IS THAT IT SUPPORTS THE NEOO PROGRAM'S GOAL OF DISCOVERING AND ACQUIRING ACCURATE ORBITS OF POTENTIALLY HAZARDOUS OBJECTS 140 METERS IN DIAMETER AND LARGER AS WELL AS SUPPORTING THE GOAL OF CHARACTERIZING A REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLE OF SMALL NEOS BY PROVIDING INFORMATION ON THEIR SPIN RATES SIZES SHAPES AND COMPOSITIONS. · GrantIndex