Project description DEENESFRITPL New software could help detect Earth’s minimoons better Earth occasionally shares its neighbourhood with a number of tiny moons – a transient population of asteroids that are attracted to the Earth’s gravitational field for a certain period of time. Minimoons are good targets for in situ resource utilisation. Collecting samples from an entire asteroid could also aid in better understanding the early history of the solar system. Funded by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the LSST-minimoon project is developing a data acquisition tool to derive possible minimoon populations from the data stream of the upcoming Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). This survey could help detect minimoons on a bimonthly basis. The new software is expected to detect minimoons of an order of magnitude greater than with standard LSST processing tools. Show the project objective Hide the project objective Objective Earth's minimoons are a transient population of asteroids which occasionally become gravitationally bound to the Earth for a limited period of time. Their physical characterisation on a population level can lead to a thorough assessment of the population of smallest asteroids, i.e. those with a diameter smaller than 20 metres. This little-studied population of asteroids is important, on the one hand, for resolving the fundamental asteroid-meteorite linking problem, with implication for the formation of the solar system, and on the other hand, are a constant source of local scale threat to Earth’s biosphere. Due to their easy accessibility by spacecraft and the large amount of time that they spend in the vicinity of the Earth, minimoons are good targets for asteroid in situ resource utilisation, or for space missions that could retrieve an entire asteroid to Earth for laboratory analysis. The primary aim of this project is to build a dedicated tool to extract the possible minimoon detections from the data stream of the upcoming Large Survey of Space in Time (LSST), which will be the only facility able to detect minimoons on a bimonthly basis. However, even for LSST, minimoons will be on the edge of its detection capabilities since the general solar system processing tools are designed for a general case of moving objects. Minimoons, due to their exceptionally rapid movement and narrow windows of detectability require special attention. Outputs will include a peer-reviewed article, and a software package to enable the discovery of minimoons on an order of magnitude greater scale than with the standard LSST processing tools. In line with Marie Sklodowska-Curie Action objectives, the project will enable transfer of knowledge and interdisciplinary skills of mutual benefit between the applicant and the host organisation, enhance the contact networks of both, and strengthen the future career opportunities of the applicant through establishing international collaborations. Fields of science natural sciencescomputer and information sciencessoftwareengineering and technologymechanical engineeringvehicle engineeringaerospace engineeringastronautical engineeringspacecraftnatural sciencesphysical sciencesastronomyplanetary sciencesasteroidsengineering and technologymechanical engineeringvehicle engineeringaerospace engineeringsatellite technologynatural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesatmospheric sciencesmeteorologybiosphera Programme(s) H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Main Programme H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility Topic(s) MSCA-IF-2020 - Individual Fellowships Call for proposal H2020-MSCA-IF-2020 See other projects for this call Funding Scheme MSCA-IF-EF-ST - Standard EF Coordinator THE QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY OF BELFAST Net EU contribution € 212 933,76 Address University road lanyon building BT7 1NN Belfast United Kingdom See on map Region Northern Ireland Northern Ireland Belfast Activity type Higher or Secondary Education Establishments Links Contact the organisation Opens in new window Website Opens in new window Participation in EU R&I programmes Opens in new window HORIZON collaboration network Opens in new window Other funding € 0,00
