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

Project Information

LSST-minimoon

Grant agreement ID: 101032479

DOI

10.3030/101032479

Project closed

EC signature date 7 July 2021

Start date 1 August 2021

End date 31 July 2023

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 212 933,76

EU contribution

€ 212 933,76

Coordinated by

THE QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY OF BELFAST
United Kingdom

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - LSST-minimoon (Enabling the discovery of Earth's temporary satellite with the Large Survey of Space and Time)

Reporting period: 2021-08-01 to 2023-07-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Earth's temporary satellites, also known as minimoons, are small asteroids that occasionally become captured as Earth's companions. Their investigation provides the clues of the sizes of Earth-approaching asteroids, which can be potentially hazardous. As they spend a significant amount of time in the vicinity of the Earth, minimoons are outstanding testing targets for the emerging field of in situ resource utilisation, or, as it also known, asteroid mining. Unfortunately because they are small, and therefore faint, only state-of-the-art ground-basewd telescopes are able to discover them. The Vera C. Rubin Observatory and the upcoming Large Survey of Space and Time (LSST) are expected to be the primary discovery machines for asteroids in the Solar System in general, and minimoons in particular. As ther orbits of minimoons differ significantly from typical asteroid orbits from a ground-based observer's perspective, a dedicated approach for their discovery from the swarm of LSST data is required.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The main work performed in this Marie Skłodowska-Curie Action (MSCA) concentrated around development of software tools. In particular, the initial version of the survey simulator for LSST Solar System science was developed and validated. Additional work was performed to identify and develop software tools to interface with the LSST data stream and for utilising various observational linking algorithms together with researchers in the established collaboration. The training of the fellow happened through active participation in the host intitution, by active participation in seminars, journal clubs and research group meetings.

As part of knowledge dissemination, the fellow participated in three scientific conferences where he delivered oral presentations, one observing trip where the fellow supervised a PhD student, and one scientific visit.

Results of this MSCA are reported in a peer-reviewed journal article on the taxonomic classification of LSST asteroid data, and in forthcoming peer-reviewed journal articles on (1) the detectability and linking of minimoons; (2) the general-purpose survey simulator for LSST Solar System Science; (3) first scientific results on the synthetic data for LSST Solar System science. The tools developed under the auspices of this MSCA will facilitate dozens of forthcoming research on various small Solar System body populations to be discovered with LSST.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

This project enabled the fellow to apply the methods from time-domain astronomy, typically utilised for gamma ra burst afterglows and supernovae, to the field of small Solar System science. The regular discovery of minimoons will open the realmn of small asteroids to statistical studies. his, in turn, will advice us on the composition of these objects, and provide a more comprehensive understanding of the physical properties of all small near-Earth asteroids, including the potentially hazardous ones. In addition to the scientific work, the results may be of interest to the space sector, both public and private, who are interested in the utilisation of asteroid resources. If and when minimoons shall be discovered regularly, they provide outstanding targets for carrying out technology tests without going too far out in space.

The fellow at the Meteor Crater in Arizona during the Asteroids Comets Meteors 2023 conference.