Speaker
Description
The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Flyeye telescopes will play a crucial role in global planetary
defense efforts, with their unique optical design inspired by the compound eyes of a fly. These telescopes
feature an expanded field of view, allowing a more efficient survey of the sky and improving the
detection of potentially hazardous Near-Earth Objects (NEOs).
We present the status of the Flyeye-1 telescope, currently located in Matera, Italy. Highlights include
milestones in manufacturing, hardware integration, and plans for its relocation to the Mt. Mufara
observatory. The presentation covers the telescope’s design features, survey strategy, data processing
architecture, challenges encountered, and preliminary results from the testing phases.
We also introduce Flyeye-2, presenting its enhanced specifications and design progress, along with
its prospective locations in the Southern Hemisphere. Looking forward, we present plans for the network’s
full deployment and its anticipated role in advancing global planetary defense efforts in the LSST
era.