This five-year project is aimed at producing more science from new surveys coming online, such as PanSTARRS and LSST, and at filling a critical gap in the Near Earth Object (NEO) search mission -- that of the follow-up astrometry (position measurements) needed to determine the orbits of newly-discovered NEO's with sufficient accuracy to avoid losing them. Managed by the Winer Observatory, this project will also perform NEO science observations intended to aid in understanding the nature of NEO's. To do this, we propose to build either a 1.5-meter (60-inch) aperture telescope for $6 million to $8 million (depending on where the telescope is located) or a 2.5-m (100-inch) telescope for $18 million, according to the science demands of our partner. The telescope will have a wide field of view, a modern CCD imager, and a custom scheduling and control system. The actual cost of the project will be determined largely by the complexity and capability of the imager. Our budget estimates for the imager are based on various cost saving assumptions compatible with our science and astrometric programs.
For a variety of reasons, Federal funding of NEO research is limited to a few million dollars per year to conduct surveys to discover NEO's. Little Federal funding is available for the NEO follow-up observations required to secure NEO orbits after their initial discovery. As a result of this lack of funding, our research into NEO archives indicates that approximately 8% percent of all newly-discovered NEO's are lost.
The project will be led by a professional project manager with experience with large projects in the aerospace industry and a scientist with exceptional credentials in both minor planet research and educational outreach. The telescope and imager will be built by firms with prior experience with projects of this magnitude and type.
We seek a partner to aid in fundraising and to help us define and advance a vigorous outreach program in connection with the Project ASTEROID telescope. Such a partner should have both strong science and Education and Public Outreach (EPO) credentials. We are willing to provide telescope time in exchange for project funding, and to name the telescope after the principal donor. One project we wish to pursue with our partner is the establishment of a summer science program for secondary school or college students from inner city areas, where they most likely have never seen the majesty of the heavens, or possibly even never seen stars in the night sky.
We estimate we need to raise $12 million to endow the operations of this program in addition to the funds needed to build the telescope.
The painting above is titled Nature Remodels the Coastline by noted space artist Don Davis (URL http://www.donaldedavis.com). The painting is uncopyrighted, and was obtained from NASA Web site URL http://impact.arc.nasa.gov/gallery/index.html without any endorsement, expressed or implied, by NASA for this project.
Last modified: January 3, 2008.