A NEO Physical Properties database within the NEOROCKS EU project

The advent of new wide field, ground-based and multiwavelength space based sky surveys will lead to a large amount of data that needs to be efficiently processed, archived and disseminated. In addition, differently from astrometric observations which have a centralized data repository acting under IAU mandate (the MPC), the outcome of ground-based NEO observations devoted to NEO physical characterization are sparsely distributed. It appears then desirable to have data on NEO physical characterization available through a centralized access able to guarantee their long-term archiving, as well as to ensure the maintenance and the evolution of the corresponding data products.  

 

Within the NEOROCKS EU project (“The NEO Rapid Observation, Characterization and Key Simulations” - SU-SPACE-23-SEC-2019 from the Horizon 2020), as part of WP5 (Data Management) activities, we propose the implementation of a unique NEO Physical Properties database hosting all different data products resulting from NEO observations devoted to physical characterization, in order to ensure an efficient data products dissemination and their short/long-term storage and availability. The NEOROCKS database, will be designed by means of an EPNCore derived data model (see [1]) ready for the EPN-TAP service implementation, and thus able to store, maintain and regularly update all different levels of processing, from raw data to final products (e.g. size, rotation, spectral type) beyond the duration of the project as an reliable source of services and data on NEO physical properties hosted at ASI SSDC.

 

The NEOROCKS database will import NEO orbital elements from the Near-Earth Object Dynamics Site (NEODyS), while NEO physical parameters will be partly provided by NEOROCKS users, partly imported from external data source. In particular, the NEO physical properties database available at the ESA NEO Coordination Center, hosting since 2013 the legacy of the European Asteroid Research Node (EARN) and which will host Solar System Objects (SSO) NEO physical properties in the Gaia DR3 expected for the second half of 2021, will be imported and integrated into the NEOROCKS Physical Properties Database. Thus, a single query interface will allow to display both dynamical and physical properties of any given NEO, or to search for samples within the NEO population satisfying certain requirements (e.g. targets for astronomical observations and mission analysis).

 

Acknowledgements: The LICIACube team acknowledges financial support from Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI, contract No. 2019-31-HH.0 CUP F84I190012600).

 

 

References

 

[1] Erard S., Cecconi B., Le Sidaner P., Berthier J., Henry F., Molinaro M., Giardino M., Bourrel N., Andre N., Gangloff M., Jacquey C., Topf F. 2014. The EPN-TAP protocol for the Planetary Science Virtual Observatory (2014). Astronomy And Computing, vol. 7-8, p. 52-61, ISSN: 2213-1337, doi: 10.1016/j.ascom.2014.07.008