Citizen-based Asteroid Observations – Three P hases

1. Citizen-based Asteroid Observations – Three Phases Team: Carlos Aguilera, Rodolfo Novakovic, Erik Vallejos, Anton Rabanus, David Rabanus Asteroid Observation Session, 2013-09-30, David Rabanus

2. Asteroid Observation Session, 2013-09-30, David Rabanus Origin of idea: Space Apps Challenge Team Tuor on Asteroid Hunting The Challenge Develop a mission concept to explore Apophis (or any other significant asteroid) to better predict its orbital dynamics and to instrument the object with a radio transponder prior to the 2029 close approach.

3. Asteroid Observation Session, 2013-09-30, David Rabanus Ideas, Contemplations • Tagging and tracking of only one asteroid (this challenge) does not make sense when there are >100.000 unknown objects in the asteroid belt that potentially can pose a risk to life on earth and require to be tracked. • For a better orbit prediction it is required to know the forces that act on an asteroid. • To calculate these forces, position and velocity vector of each of the objects need to be obtained • Need to learn from the concept of WISE (NASA mission from 2010/2011), and continuethe observations, many ground-based follow-ups.

4. Asteroid Observation Session, 2013-09-30, David Rabanus The three phases: A public learning project Ground-based technology testing Massivation of ground-based hardware, and operations Development of space-based systems, e.g. cubesats, and operations

5. Asteroid Observation Session, 2013-09-30, David Rabanus Phase 1: Ground-based Technology Testing Accessibility of technology to amateurs Moderately cooled thermal-IR sensors Narrow-band filters Robotic telescopes for use in highest possible altitudes (transparency!) 2 1 3 4 5

6. Asteroid Observation Session, 2013-09-30, David Rabanus Phase 2: Massivation of Ground-based Hardware • With results from phase 1, design for simplicity. • Make crowd-funding campaigns to accelerate time-to-market and accessibility: • IR sensor chips • Narrow-band filters • Cooling technology (Peltier) • Telescope motion control • Open source control software • Simple, effective domes for weather protection • Get existing amateur societies to participate Make outreach campaigns at schools, colleges, universities, … Especially in Chile, Atacama, the thermal IR should be well accessible Develop image stacking and feature detection a routine (challenge!) Start technology refinement for nanosats, cubesats Extend IR range to ~18µm (challenge!) 6

7. Asteroid Observation Session, 2013-09-30, David Rabanus Phase 3: Space-based observations • Build, launch and operate a prototype cubesat in LEO • Design the “swarm”: • Lagrange-2 orbit at Mars: Half way to the Main Asteroid Belt (4x more signal!) • Hitching a ride to Mars (~150kg ballast load) • Swarm of 6 to 10 copies • Miniaturized ion thrusters for propulsion from Mars to L2@Mars, and attitude control • Power from solar panels • Telemetry/downlink via amplified CubeSatsystem(challenge!) a • 200mm deployable telescope, 11” and 19” res at 10 and 18µm, respectively (no VIS quality required) • Peltier-cooled microbolometer arrays • Rotation-cone-scanning IR telescope • Linux on-board processing of images (“stacking”) and data reduction(challenge!) • Engage radio amateur community for data downlinks 7

8. Asteroid Observation Session, 2013-09-30, David Rabanus Flight Configuration

9. Asteroid Observation Session, 2013-09-30, David Rabanus Scanning Geometry

10. Asteroid Observation Session, 2013-09-30, David Rabanus Synergies with other Space Apps Challenges • Database for NEO (Near Earth Objects): #NEOdatabase • CubeSats for Asteroid Exploration: #cubesats • Ardusat: #ardusat • Hitch a ride to Mars: #ridetomars • Why We Explore: #whyweexplore