Speaker
Description
Abstract
Apollo and ATEN class asteroids representing a hazardous form of deep space debris, are now being routinely monitored and researched from the Southern Hemisphere longitude of Australia. A bistatic radar and optical program developing since 2015, brings together the resources of the Universities of New South Wales, Tasmania, Western Australia, Curtin and Federal agencies CSIRO and NASA JPL.
Anchored by the JPL-NASA Deep Space Network located in Canberra (CDSCC) and the CSIRO Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) at Narrabri, the Australian consortium also brings with it the radio antennas of the University of Tasmania and optical telescopes of the University of New South Wales (UNSW), the University of Western Australia (UWA) and most recently the Desert Fireball Network of Curtin University. Collectively this Australian asteroid monitoring service offers combined radar/optical asteroid astrometry, photometry, detection and atmospheric re-entry monitoring over the Australian geographic region creating a flexible near Earth object (NEO) monitoring system.
Research within the consortium has developed a STEM education capability that scopes asteroid analogue and digital modelling, polarization decomposition, light curve correlation and emerging doppler/delay capabilities to assess asteroid type, shape and spin.
The Southern Hemisphere asteroid research consortium provides a complementary capability to support global planetary protection efforts through the IAWN, most notably by addressing the small, but non-negligible fraction of asteroids that approach from the south. It will also support NEO monitoring efforts in the 2025-27 timeframe, as the northern hemisphere Goldstone Solar System Radar (GSSR) undergoes critical modernization.