MITM11 | Planetary Defense: space missions, observations, modeling and experiments

MITM11

Planetary Defense: space missions, observations, modeling and experiments
Co-organized by SB
Co-conveners: Patrick Michel, Naomi Murdoch, Michael Küppers

In October 2024, the ESA Hera mission will be launched to reach the binary asteroid Didymos in fall 2026, which will provide detailed measurements of the outcome of the first asteroid deflection experiment successfully achieved by the NASA DART mission. Studies of mission concepts to visit Apophis in 2029 are ongoing (such as RAMSES at ESA), while NASA OSIRIS-APEX will visit the asteroid a few days after its closes approach to Earth on April 13, 2029. The NASA NEOSurveyor spacecraft, to be launched in 2028, LSST and other observational programs will increase drastically the number of discoveries of NEOs. Planetary defense is thus a field that keeps growing with a wide range of activities, from active space missions to space mission concepts and observations from the ground and from space, numerical modeling of asteroid properties and of deflection techniques as well as public communication. This session will present recent progresses and perspectives.

In October 2024, the ESA Hera mission will be launched to reach the binary asteroid Didymos in fall 2026, which will provide detailed measurements of the outcome of the first asteroid deflection experiment successfully achieved by the NASA DART mission. Studies of mission concepts to visit Apophis in 2029 are ongoing (such as RAMSES at ESA), while NASA OSIRIS-APEX will visit the asteroid a few days after its closes approach to Earth on April 13, 2029. The NASA NEOSurveyor spacecraft, to be launched in 2028, LSST and other observational programs will increase drastically the number of discoveries of NEOs. Planetary defense is thus a field that keeps growing with a wide range of activities, from active space missions to space mission concepts and observations from the ground and from space, numerical modeling of asteroid properties and of deflection techniques as well as public communication. This session will present recent progresses and perspectives.