← LeaderboardsInvestigatorsiAttributed = a PI's even-split share of each grant — a $1M grant with 2 PIs counts $500K each.
Astronomical Research Institute
$6,011,702
Total funding
9
Grants
Funding over time
peak $2.2M · FY2008–21$2.5M$1.9M$1.3M$625K$0
'08
'09
'10
'11
'12
'13
'14
'15
'16
'17
'18
'19
'20
'21
Funding mix
By agency
NASA$6,011,702 · 9
By mechanism
—$6,011,702 · 9
Investigators at Astronomical Research Institute
InvestigatorsiAttributed = a PI's even-split share of each grant — a $1M grant with 2 PIs counts $500K each.
Exposure= the full size of every grant they're on ($1M each).
Rising Stars
First grant in the last 5 yrs
Not enough data
Emerging Leaders
6–10 yrs in
Not enough data
All-Time
Most funded here, all years
Not enough data
Largest grants
THE PRINCIPAL GOALS OF THESE TWO FACILITIES IN PHASE V WILL BE TO 1) PROVIDE RAPID NEOCP MEASURES AND 2) MEASURE MORE THAN 4 000 NEAS FAINTER THAN V22.0 PER YEAR.$2,242,635
· FY2021 · National Aeronautics and Space Administration
GOALS AND OBJECTIVESBEGINNING FEBRUARY 2006 THE ASTRONOMICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE ARI MADE ITS FIRST NEO OBSERVATION AND IN A SINGLE DECADE HAS PRODUCED MORE THAN 129 488 MEASURES EXCEEDING ALL OTHER RESEARCH FACILITIES WORLDWIDE. OUR GOAL IN CONTINUING THIS RESEARCH IS TO PROVIDE A DEDICATED COST EFFECTIVE NEO FOLLOW UP PROGRAM THAT WILL ALLOW NASA TO COMPLETE THEIR GOAL OF CATALOGING POTENTIALLY HAZARDOUS NEAR EARTH OBJECTS TO 100 METERS.ARI HAS BEEN AN INTEGRAL PART OF NASAS NEOO PROGRAM FOR THE PAST NINE YEARS. UTILIZING FOUR TELESCOPES LOCATED AT THE INSTITUTE OUR PRIMARY OBJECTIVE IS TO PROVIDE THE LONGEST POSSIBLE ORBITAL ELEMENTS SPECIFICALLY FOR OBJECTS FAINTER THAN MAGNITUDE 22.0. THE PRINCIPAL GOAL OF THIS FACILITY IN PHASE IV WILL BE TO MEASURE MORE THAN 2 000 NEAS THAT ARE FAINTER THAN 22ND MAGNITUDE IN ORDER TO MAKE THEIR FUTURE RECOVERY MUCH MORE PROBABLE DURING THE OBJECTS NEXT OPPOSITION.APPROACH AND METHODOLOGYARI WILL CONTINUE TO FOCUS ON NEO CONFIRMATION PAGE OBJECTS AS A MAJOR PRIORITY. OUR SECONDARY GOAL IN THIS RESEARCH WILL BE TO CONDUCT FOLLOW UP OBSERVATIONS OF FIRST OPPOSITION NEOS AND THOSE REQUIRING ADDITIONAL OBSERVATIONS AS SPECIFIED BY THE MINOR PLANET CENTER MPC. ARIS LOWEST PRIORITY IN PHASE IV WILL BE TARGETED FOLLOW UP OF MULTIOPPOSITION OBJECTS.AS THE LARGE SKY SURVEYS SUCH AS PANSTARRS AND THE MT. LEMMON SURVEY CONTINUE TO MAKE NEW DISCOVERIES OF OBJECTS FAINTER THAN 22ND MAGNITUDE THE NEED FOR FAINT FOLLOW UP BECOMES MORE IMPERATIVE. DURING PHASE IV ARI PLANS TO REDUCE THE NUMBER OF OBSERVATIONS ON NEAS BRIGHTER THAN 22ND MAGNITUDE DUE TO THE NUMBER OF ACTIVE OBSERVERS THAT ARE FOCUSED ON THESE NEOS. IN 2015 ONLY SIX OBSERVATORIES REPORTED MORE THAN 250 22ND MAGNITUDE MEASURES OF NEOS TO THE MPC. OF THESE SIX ARI WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR 47.5 OF ALL THE OBSERVATIONS THAT WERE FAINTER THAN MAGNITUDE 22.0. IN 2015 H21 CONFIRMED 513 NEOS FOR THE SKY SURVEY DISCOVERY TEAMS AND RECOVERED TWENTY FIVE 22ND MAGNITUDE FIRST OPPOSITION OBJECTS. THREE OF THE FOUR INSTRUMENTS CURRENTLY IN OPERATION AT THE INSTITUTE ARE FULLY CAPABLE OF 22ND MAGNITUDE NEO OBSERVATIONS AND THE 1.3 M TELESCOPE IS CAPABLE OF RECOVERING 23RD MAGNITUDE NEOS. SHORTLY AFTER COMMISSIONING THE 1.3 M TELESCOPE IN SEPTEMBER 2014 NEO 2010 SV3 WAS RECOVERED AT UNFILTERED MAGNITUDE 24.2 WITH THREE MEASURES. THREE WEEKS LATER IT WAS CONFIRMED A SECOND TIME WITH THREE ADDITIONAL MEASURES. DURING THIS TELESCOPES FIRST 18 MONTHS OF OPERATION MORE THAN 105 23RD MAGNITUDE NEOS HAVE BEEN MEASURED.SIGNIFICANCE OF PROPOSED WORKOBSERVATIONS IN PHASE IV WILL BE EXTREMELY IMPORTANT ESPECIALLY DURING THE SUMMER MONTHS WHEN ONLY A FEW FOLLOW UP FACILITIES ARE AVAILABLE DUE TO THE SOUTHWESTERN U.S. ANNUAL MONSOON SEASON. IN 2015 THE INSTITUTE AT WESTFIELD ILLINOIS WORKED 63 NIGHTS DURING THE SUMMER PRODUCING 10 202 NEO MEASURES AND CONFIRMING 170 NEWLY DISCOVERED OBJECTS FOR THE DISCOVERY TEAMS. IN ADDITION H21 RECOVERED 163 NEOS THAT SUMMER FAINTER THAN MAGNITUDE 22.0.IN AN EFFORT TO STEP UP FAINT OBSERVATIONS ARO WILL CLEARLY IMPACT NASAS NEO PROGRAM BY TARGETING AN ESTIMATED 2 000 NEAS FAINTER THAN MAGNITUDE 22.0 EACH YEAR. IN ADDITION ARO ALSO PROJECTS THAT MORE THAN 250 INDIVIDUAL NEAS FAINTER THAN MAGNITUDE 23.0 WILL BE TARGETED EACH YEAR DURING THIS PHASE IV PROGRAM.$766,424
· FY2017 · National Aeronautics and Space Administration
SOUTHERN SKY NEO FOLLOW-UP PHASE IISSNEO PHASE II IS A CONTINUATION OF THE SOUTHERN SKY NEO FOLLOW-UP PROGRAM THAT BEGAN OPERATIONS IN 2012 WITH GRAN$727,860
· FY2015 · National Aeronautics and Space Administration
SOUTHERN SKY NEAR-EARTH OBSERVATIONS (SSNEO) WITH THIS PROPOSAL THE ASTRONOMICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE (ARI) WILL CONTINUE ITS COLLABORATION WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHAPEL HILL (UNC) TO PROVIDE NASA WITH A LOW-COST SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE NEAR-EARTH ASTEROID (NEA) FOLLOW-UP PROGRAM. SCIENTIFIC: THE SOUTHERN SKY NEAR EARTH OBSERVATIONS (SSNEO) BEGAN APRIL 1ST 2012 AND HAS SINCE PROVIDED OVER 80% OF ALL NEA MEASURES BELOW MINUS 20 DECLINATION. THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE REMAINS A CRITICAL AREA FOR NEA FOLLOW-UP TO PREVENT MANY ASTEROIDS FROM BEING LOST BY EXTENDING THEIR ORBITAL ARCS. WITH THE INCREASE IN NEA DISCOVERIES FROM PANSTARRS AND THE CATALINA SKY SURVEY (CSS) THE NUMBER OF NEAR-EARTH OBJECT CONFIRMATION PAGE (NEOCP) NEAS IN NEED OF ASTROMETRY HAS NEVER BEEN HIGHER. THEREFORE SSNEO IN PHASE 3 WILL DEDICATE THEIR EFFORTS TO PROVIDE AN EFFICIENT NEA ASTROMETRY AND RECOVERY PROGRAM. PANSTARRS AND CSS ARE CURRENTLY EXPENDING SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF TIME CONDUCTING FOLLOW-UP OF THEIR OWN DISCOVERIES LIMITING THEIR ABILITY TO SEARCH FOR NEW NEAR-EARTH ASTEROIDS. IN PHASE 3 SSNEO WILL DECREASE THE NEED FOR SURVEYS TO FOLLOW-UP THEIR SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE TARGETS BY 25%. THIS WILL BE ACCOMPLISHED BY UTILIZING NEW HARDWARE AND A SCHEDULING SYSTEM WHICH WILL OBTAIN EPHEMERIS AND UNCERTAINTY INFORMATION DIRECTLY FROM JPL S NEASCOUT WEBSITE. TECHNICAL: IN 2015 SSNEO EXPANDED THEIR PROJECT FROM ONE 0.41-M TELESCOPE TO TWO 0.61-M TELESCOPES AND ONE 0.41-M INSTRUMENT INCREASING THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE FOLLOW-UP OF NEOS TO MAGNITUDE V23.0. THIS PROPOSAL WILL CONTINUE TO OPERATE THREE TELESCOPES AND WILL REQUEST FUNDS TO UPGRADE THE REMAINING 0.41-M TELESCOPE TO A 0.61-M INSTRUMENT. WITH THIS UPGRADE ALL THREE TELESCOPES WILL BE IDENTICAL WITH THE SAME IMAGE SCALE AND 23.9 ARC-MINUTE FIELD OF VIEW. SINGLE OPPOSITION NEAS TYPICALLY HAVE AN UNCERTAINTY WHICH IS LINEAR WITHIN A RANGE OF RIGHT ASCENSION AND DECLINATION. TO INCREASE THE NUMBER OF RECOVERIES THE THREE TELESCOPES WILL HAVE A NEW FEATURE WHERE EACH TELESCOPE S CAMERA ROTATOR WILL AUTOMATICALLY ORIENT ITS POSITION SO THAT THE SKY ANGLE OF UNCERTAINTY ALIGNS WITH THE CCD S ARRAY DIAGONALLY. BECAUSE EACH TELESCOPE HAS A DIAGONAL IMAGE THAT IS 33.8 ARC-MINUTES ALL THREE TELESCOPES TOGETHER CAN COVER 5 100 ARC-SECONDS OF UNCERTAINTY WORKING TOGETHER. THIS ADDITIONAL FEATURE IN TELESCOPE AUTOMATION TAKES ADVANTAGE OF EACH TELESCOPE'S IDENTICAL PERFORMANCE. THEREFORE A 3 SQUARE DEGREE UNCERTAINTY REGION CAN BE EASILY SEARCHED IN A SINGLE NIGHT. THE JPL NEASCOUT WEBSITE IS A NEW ASSET THAT WILL BE INTEGRATED INTO DAILY OPERATIONS. USING NEASCOUT BOTH NEOCP AND NEA S EPHEMERIS AND UNCERTAINTY OF AN OBJECT CAN BE DIRECTLY LINKED INTO SSNEO S AUTOMATION ROUTINES. THIS WILL ALLOW CALCULATIONS OF THE FIELDS TO BE TARGETED SO THE UNCERTAINTY AREA CAN BE EASILY SEARCHED. MANAGEMENT: FOLLOW-UP OBSERVATIONS WILL CONTINUE TO BE CONTROLLED BY THE ASTRONOMICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE S SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE CONTROL OFFICE. ARI HAS SIX YEARS OF EXPERIENCE CONTROLLING TELESCOPES AT CTIO REMOTELY. THIS GRANT WILL CONTINUE TO BE MANAGED BY PI ROBERT HOLMES AND CO-I TYLER LINDER. CO-I LINDER WILL MANAGE THE DAILY OPERATIONS AND OVERSEE PROPER AUTOMATION ROUTINES PROVIDING IMPORTANT SUPPORT TO PANSTARRS AND CSS DISCOVERIES AS WELL AS EXTENDING THE ORBITAL ARCS ON AS MANY SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE TARGETS AS POSSIBLE.$630,000
· FY2020 · National Aeronautics and Space Administration
GOALS AND OBJECTIVES: THE ASTRONOMICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE S SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE NEA FOLLOW-UP PROGRAM SOUTHERN SKY NEAR EARTH OBSERVATIONS (SSNEO) WILL PARTNER WITH SKYNET OPERATED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA TO AUTOMATE CERRO TOLOLO INTER-AMERICAN OBSERVATORY S ONE METER TELESCOPE. THIS ONE METER TELESCOPE WILL CREATE A MONUMENTAL CHANGE IN FAINT NEA OBSERVATIONS BECOMING THE LARGEST FULL TIME NEOO TELESCOPE IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE DEDICATED TO THE RECOVERY OF V23.0-24.0 MAGNITUDE NEOS. UTILIZING THIS ONE METER TELESCOPE FOR V23RD NEA RECOVERY WILL PROVIDE LONGER ORBITAL ARCS ON NEWLY DISCOVERED ASTEROIDS AS WELL AS THE ABILITY TO RECOVER V23RD MAGNITUDE SINGLE OPPOSITION NEAS. THE PROPOSED WORK WILL: 1) PRODUCE 2 000 V23RD MAGNITUDE MEASURES PER YEAR DURING DARK TIME AND 2) PROVIDE A LARGE APERTURE TELESCOPE TO RECOVER FAINT NEOCP OBJECTS AND NEWLY DISCOVERED NEAS DURING FULL MOON. NEA FOLLOW-UP IS CRITICAL TO THE REDUCTION OF ORBITAL UNCERTAINTY BECAUSE FOLLOW-UP TELESCOPES UTILIZING BOTH NON-SIDEREAL TRACKING AND VECTOR CO-ADDING TECHNIQUES CAN OBSERVE ASTEROIDS MUCH FAINTER THAN THE DISCOVERY TELESCOPES IN DRIFT SCAN. THE ASTRONOMICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE HAS PERFECTED THIS TECHNIQUE ALLOWING 0.61-M TELESCOPES AT CTIO TO OBSERVE ASTEROIDS AS FAINT AS V23.0 WITH A 30 MINUTE VECTOR CO-ADDED IMAGE. THIS SAME TECHNIQUE WILL ALLOW CTIO S 1.0-M TO OBSERVE ASTEROIDS AS FAINT AS V24.0. APPROACH AND METHODOLOGY: CTIO S ONE METER CASSEGRAIN REFLECTOR BUILT BY BOLLER AND CHIVENS IN 1965 HAS BEEN OPERATIONAL AT CTIO SINCE 1974. THE TELESCOPE WILL BE AUTOMATED USING DAN GRAY S SIDEREAL TECHNOLOGIES HARDWARE AND WILL BE INCORPORATED INTO THE SKYNET REMOTELY OPERATED TELESCOPE NETWORK. CTIO S ONE METER TELESCOPE WILL BE CONTROLLED ALONGSIDE THE EXISTING NASA FUNDED PROMPT TELESCOPES ALLOWING A SINGLE OPERATOR TO MANAGE ALL OPERATIONS. THIS OBSERVING METHOD IS THE MOST COST EFFICIENT BECAUSE THE EXISTING INFRASTRUCTURE FOR ASTEROID TARGETING DATA REDUCTION AND DATA TRANSFER ARE ALREADY FULLY AUTOMATED. UTILIZING A SINGLE TELESCOPE OPERATOR TO HANDLE ALL OF SSNEO S OPERATIONS MAXIMIZES THESE ASSETS PREVENTING DUPLICATION OF OBSERVATIONS AS WELL AS BETTER CONTROL OF THE TELESCOPE SYSTEM RELATIVE TO WEATHER PATTERNS. CTIO S 1.0-M TELESCOPE WILL CONCENTRATE ALL DARK OBSERVING TIME TO RECOVERY OF V23.0-24.0 MAGNITUDE NEOS AND NEAR FULL MOON WILL ASSIST IN FAINT NEOCP AND NEWLY DISCOVERED OBJECTS TO PREVENT THOSE NEAS FROM BECOMING LOST. SIGNIFICANCE OF PROPOSED WORK: AT THE FIRST AND SECOND IAWN COMMITTEE MEETING T. SPAHR REPORTED THAT DEDICATED GROUND BASED TELESCOPE FOLLOW-UP TO ~V24 WAS NEEDED ESPECIALLY IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE. THE CTIO 1.0-M TELESCOPE WILL BE THE FIRST TELESCOPE TO PROVIDE THAT CAPABILITY ON A FULLTIME BASIS. CURRENTLY THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII 2.24-M TELESCOPE OPERATED BY D. THOLEN HAS PROVIDED THE MAJORITY OF FOLLOW-UP AND RECOVERY OBSERVATIONS FAINTER THAN V23.0. HOWEVER ONLY A LIMITED AMOUNT OF TIME EACH YEAR IS DEDICATED TO THOSE OBSERVATIONS. FROM 2015 OCTOBER 1ST THROUGH 2016 MARCH 1ST THERE WERE 4 540 MEASURES FAINTER THAN 22ND MAGNITUDE REPORTED TO THE MINOR PLANET CENTER AND ONLY 476 FAINTER THAN V23.0. CTIO S 1.0-M TELESCOPE WILL PRODUCE ~2 000 V23.0-V24.0 MEASURES PER YEAR RESULTING IN A 300% INCREASE IN THESE FAINT NEO OBSERVATIONS.$495,792
· FY2020 · National Aeronautics and Space Administration
THE NEO FOLLOW-UP PROJECT PHASE III IS A CONTINUATION OF NEAR-EARTH OBJECT FOLLOW-UP OBSERVATIONS CONDUCTED BY PI, ROBERT HOLMES OVER THE PAST 5 YEAR$467,471
· FY2014 · National Aeronautics and Space Administration
OVER THE PAST YEAR THE ASTRONOMICAL RESEARCH OBSERVATORY (ARO) HAS BEEN THE LEADER IN NEAR-EARTH OBJECT FOLLOW-UP OBSERVATIONS PRODUCING 11 593 MEASU$380,909
· FY2010 · National Aeronautics and Space Administration
THE ASTRONOMICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE'S NEO FOLLOW-UP PROJECT IS A DEDICATED AND SUSTAINED NEAR EARTH$177,611
· FY2008 · National Aeronautics and Space Administration
OBJECTIVESTHE SKYNET TELESCOPE NETWORK WILL BE UTILIZED TO FOLLOW-UP NEAR-EARTH OBJECTS DISCOVERED BY THE LARGE SKY SURVEYS USING TELESCOPES UNIQUEL$123,000
· FY2014 · National Aeronautics and Space Administration