Planetary Science Seminar

As of February 2015, over 12,000 near-Earth asteroids have been discovered and more than 100 new discoveries are made each month. Despite these impressive numbers and the fact that they represent an increase of nearly two orders of magnitude over the past 20 years, physical information for the vast majority of these objects remains limited. This lack of knowledge significantly influences our understanding of formational and evolutionary processes in the Solar System, the ability for accurate impact hazard assessment, and the identification of viable spacecraft targets for future robotic and human exploration.

I will present the current state of knowledge of the near-Earth asteroid population and discuss ongoing efforts to telescopically characterize the basic physical properties of these objects (e.g. rotation state, morphology, composition). This will include emphasis on a large collaborative program known as MANOS -- the Mission Accessible Near-Earth Object Survey. Early science results from this survey include insights into the compositional distribution of near-Earth asteroids, the evolution of their rotation states, and the interplay between orbital and physical evolution.