Despite decades of international efforts only a fraction of all potentially hazardous asteroids has been identified to date. Near-Earth asteroids that would not disintegrate upon entering our atmosphere are discovered every day. The current approach pursued by national agencies to protect the Earth from asteroid impacts is two pronged. On the one hand new detection programs such as the Vera C. Rubin Observatory and its Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) are about to come online. On the other hand space agencies are developing and testing technologies that are capable of altering the trajectories of potential Earth impactors. The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), for instance, is a NASA mission to be launched in 2021. Its aim is to demonstrate kinetic impact based asteroid deflection in a realistic setting. In this seminar I will present an overview of LSST and DART and discuss current challenges. Furthermore, I introduce the concept of Active Asteroid Characterization as a means of advancing future planetary defense efforts.
This seminar will be hosted through Zoom:
Join Zoom Meeting: https://illinois.zoom.us/j/427263907?pwd=bUtuWmhqRFFsNHl5UHR1UXR4Rk9Rdz09
Meeting ID: 427 263 907
Password: 949585
