Skip to main content
European Commission logo
español español
CORDIS - Resultados de investigaciones de la UE
CORDIS
CORDIS Web 30th anniversary CORDIS Web 30th anniversary

Enabling the discovery of Earth's temporary satellite with the Large Survey of Space and Time

Descripción del proyecto

Un nuevo «software» podría ayudar a detectar mejor las minilunas de la Tierra

En ocasiones, la Tierra comparte su entorno con varias lunas diminutas, una población transitoria de asteroides que se ven atraídos por el campo gravitatorio de la Tierra durante un cierto período de tiempo. Las minilunas son buenas dianas para la utilización de recursos «in situ». Recopilar muestras de todo un asteroide también podría ayudar a comprender mejor la historia temprana del Sistema Solar. FEn el proyecto LSST-minimoon, financiado por las Acciones Marie Skłodowska-Curie, se desarrolla una herramienta de adquisición de datos para extraer las posibles poblaciones de minilunas de los flujos de datos del futuro estudio Large Survey of Space in Time (LSST). Esta estudio podría ayudar a detectar minilunas cada dos meses. Se espera que el nuevo «software» detecte minilunas de una orden de magnitud mayor que con herramientas de procesamiento LSST estándar.

Objetivo

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.

Ámbito científico (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS clasifica los proyectos con EuroSciVoc, una taxonomía plurilingüe de ámbitos científicos, mediante un proceso semiautomático basado en técnicas de procesamiento del lenguaje natural.

Para utilizar esta función, debe iniciar sesión o registrarse

Coordinador

THE QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY OF BELFAST
Aportación neta de la UEn
€ 212 933,76
Dirección
UNIVERSITY ROAD LANYON BUILDING
BT7 1NN Belfast
Reino Unido

Ver en el mapa

Región
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland Belfast
Tipo de actividad
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Enlaces
Coste total
€ 212 933,76