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NEO program recommendations

Eleonora Pinto
CME 20Q: Computational Modeling For Future Leaders

NEO Detection Program: A Joint Effort

Currently, NASA is in charge of the largest near-earth object (NEO) detection
program. According to a 2014 audit, however, its existing structure and resources are
inadequate to provide efficient, effective, and transparent program management.
Characterizing the composition, size, shape, orbital properties, and likely impact sites of
asteroids, along with developing and testing effective mitigation strategies, takes time,
organization, and enormous amounts of taxpayer money (which is many times difficult to
justify). Why should the burden of protecting the world from asteroids fall on the U.S.?
The NEO program should be a collaborative effort between nations with space research
programs and the public.
In 2013, the UN formed an International Asteroid Warning Network for member
nations to share information about potentially hazardous space rocks. Although this
prevents the burden of NEO detection to fall on the U.S., the effort is vague. Considering
that the deflection of an asteroid takes from a year to a decade of planning and that there
are currently more than one hundred times as many asteroids as have been tracked, it is
necessary to accelerate the discovery process and test mitigation strategies. This is
extremely expensive. For example, while the best way of tracking asteroids is through
space telescopes, these cost more than two billion dollars more than ground-based ones.1
A Warning Network is not powerful enough to expedite the process.

1 Whereas a ground-based telescope costs less than $100 million, space-based ones such as the Hubble
Space Telescope cost about $2.5 billion. Retrieved from http://www.space.com/15892-hubble-spacetelescope.html

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NEO program recommendations

Eleonora Pinto
CME 20Q: Computational Modeling For Future Leaders

A possible way around this is to use NASAs knowledge of forming partnerships

and the UNs negotiation channels to create an international entity to track down and
address NEO hazards. A university renowned for space research could be paid to develop
this formal NEO program, emphasizing costs estimates, a strategic plan for its operations,
an integrated master schedule, and a program to monitor its performance. The main
collaborators of this organization could be the countries with the largest space agencies
(namely the United States, Russia, and Europe). The other sixty-seven countries members
of the UN General Assembly with government agencies engaged in space exploration
activities should contribute to the effort through research efforts, and, in some cases,
financial contributions determined by the countrys ability to pay (measured by factors
such as a countrys national income and its population size).
A way to motivate countries, especially developing ones, to agree to participate is
to make them understand the economic and social benefits accompanying this research.
In South Africa, for example, the creation of the Southern African Large Telescope
(SALT) in the town of Sutherland stimulated the economy by engaging local industry in
its establishment (60% of the telescopes components were created locally), boosting
tourism (from a few hundred to 13000 visitors a year), and creating new jobs. Socially,
the telescope promoted public interest in science through stargazing tours, press releases,
astronomy education, and cooperation with the international scientific community. All
this represents progress in creating a knowledge-based economy.
At its birth, this international entity should have four main responsibilities. First,
and most importantly, it should fundraise for money from its member countries and from
the public to set up a space telescope to track down asteroids. Second, it should

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NEO program recommendations

Eleonora Pinto
CME 20Q: Computational Modeling For Future Leaders

coordinate each countrys efforts in order to avoid duplication. This could be done the
way the NEO program does today, where different observatories send information to a
center that acts as a repository and verifies that the objects represent new discoveries.
Third, it should integrate additional incentives and create partnerships with private
institutions to accelerate the process. Finally, it should continue with NASAs initiative to
promote public engagement. This can be done through requests for information, Grand
Challenges,2 and, most importantly, grants for people with innovative projects that
contribute to NEO research.
Additional research:
List of government space agencies. (2015) Retrieved from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_government_space_agencies
Asteroid impact avoidance. (2015) Retrieved from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroid_impact_avoidance
Govender,K.(2009,July1).Astronomycanfosterdevelopment.

RetrievedJanuary19,2015,from
http://www.scidev.net/global/opinion/astronomycanfoster
development1.html

List of government space agencies. (2015) Retrieved from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_government_space_agencies
Taylor, N. (2013, April 24). Hubble Space Telescope: Pictures, Facts & History.
Retrieved January 19, 2015, from http://www.space.com/15892-hubble-spacetelescope.html

2 Ambitious goals on a national or global scale that capture the imagination and demand
advances in innovation and breakthroughs in science and technology. Retrieved from
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2013/jun/HQ_13188_Asteroid_Grand_Challenge.html