Tiny Satellite Set To Hunt Asteroids

coondoggie writes "Canadian scientists are developing a 143-lb microsatellite to detect and track near-earth asteroids and comets, as well as satellites and space junk. The suitcase-sized Near Earth Object Surveillance Satellite includes a 6-inch diameter telescope, smaller than most amateur astronomers' scopes, that by being located 435 miles above the Earth's atmosphere will be able to detect moving asteroids delivering as few as 50 photons of light in a 100-second exposure. The NEOSSat will twist and turn hundreds of times each day, orbiting from pole to pole every 50 minutes, almost always in sunlight. The telescope has a sunshade that allows searching the sky to within 45 degrees of the Sun, in order to detect near-Earth asteroids whose orbits are entirely inside Earth's." The probe was announced a few days before the 100th anniversary of the Tunguska blast.

Beee Vewwy Vewwy Quiet...

[by Anonymous Coward]

I'm huntin' asteeroids.

There is hope

[Anonymous Meoward (665631)]

Any technology that can promise to shoot Bruce Willis into space one day is worth pursuing.

(Just get Steve Buscemi back please.)

Re:There is hope

[elrous0 (869638)]

I'm sorry, I can't morally support any government project that leaves Bruce Willis in space but allows Ben Affleck to return.

Spotted

[Wowsers (1151731)]

Suppose it spots something on a crash course for the Earth, what next? All that will happen is that we know something is heading our way. Bruce Willis is too old to go up to space!

Insert coin

[Applekid (993327)]

Once the satellite is equipped with a gun, it can shoot the big asteroids into two smaller ones, and each of those asteroids into two even smaller ones. Hitting the smallest ones will make them disappear.

Re:

[FlyingSquidStudios (1031284)]

Sadly, that only works when the asteroids are two-dimensional and hollow. However, the threat of randomly shooting flying saucers is now negligible.

Re:

[drinkypoo (153816)]

Just shoot them with a four-dimensional projectile, from whose perspective they are two-dimensional and hollow. YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND TIME CUBE!

Re:

[Chris Pimlott (16212)]

Scientists have released an interactive computer simulation [goriya.com] demonstrating how the new system would work.

space junk

[thermian (1267986)]

I'd say its more likely that the space junk detection bit will be more useful in the short term, since it'll need a whole lot more then this to stop another one like the Tunguska impactor.

What we need is a way of finding and clearing out the near earth orbitting man made crap so we can reliably place constellations of satellites in orbit, and open up commercial travel.

I want to see active asteroid mining taking place, and for that we need clear skies. Hundreds of ships going up and down a day will mean its absolutely required.

Re:space junk

[cavis (1283146)]

From what I understand, NASA already tracks a large number of these objects from earth so they can avoid the debris. You don't want a launch a satellite or the Space Shuttle just to have it collide with Ed White's glove or Michael Collin's camera. The bigger problem is there are thousands of very small particles that came from explosions. Much of that debris has fallen back into the atmosphere and burnt up, but there is quite a bit still up there.

The bigger question is: How do we clean it up?

More info at.

[Overkill Nbuta (1035654)]

http://ucalgary.ca/news/june2008/NEOSSat [ucalgary.ca]

Tiny?? That's not tiny....

[Muad'Dave (255648)]

... THIS [skyrocket.de] is tiny!

Re:

[Lumpy (12016)]

Actually most of the Ham radio microsat's are way WAY smaller than that behemoth.

Satellite swarms

[OpenSourceNut (1136825)]

It should be noted that this year is the 400th anniversary of the telescope.

Maybe they will soon figure out how to etch a telescope on a circuit board and send swarms of thousands of networked satellites out there to look for these asteroids.

Presumably we'll find tons

[192939495969798999 (58312)]

I'd be surprised if there was not a shocking number of lethal-to-all-life-on-earth sized rocks that almost hit us on a regular basis.

How does this comparre to "synoptic sky survey"?

[peter303 (12292)]

In the Wired issue on petabyte computing, they mention a telescope that will photgraph the entire sky at ultrahigh resolution every three days. These will be compared to earlier full sky photos to look for NEO etc. This survey acquires terabytes a night, hence inclusion in the article.

No!

[owlnation (858981)]

It's not hunters, it's WHALERS you insensitive clod.

This is absolutely not approved

[Daimanta (1140543)]

by the PETA. People for Ethical Treatment of Asteroids.

Coverage

[I_am_the_cheese (1264298)]

Does anyone care to do the math and report back with the percentage of coverage?

Sat Stats

[condition-label-red (657497)]

Interesting maneuvering method: solar powered magnetic fields -- no fuel needed.

NEOSSat

Telescope: Able to look for objects near the sun - a task virtually impossible to do from Earth.

Extends 30 centimetres.

Weight: 65 kilograms

Power: 45 watts with favourable orientation of solar panels

Propulsion: Solar-powered magnetic "fingers" push against the Earth's magnetic field. It will never run out of propellant.

Orbit: Sun synchronous, 800 km above the Earth, orbiting pole to pole

I'd totally play that game.

[Kingrames (858416)]

I can just picture it, the final boss shows up...

"That's no space station..."

Re:

[AioKits (1235070)]

Satellite easy to spot, has the 'ass orgy' license plate hanging off it.

Re:

[Red Flayer (890720)]

I don't know, but you put an extra word in the quote. There is no "fo'".

Not Yet

[FurtiveGlancer (1274746)]

I checked the Periodic table [wikipedia.org] and couldn't find Klingonium (Kg). I believe it will be discovered somewhere in the 160-190 range of atomic numbers as a metaloid with an irregular "ridged" f orbit electron pair. Mark my words...

Re:

[SBacks (1286786)]

The telescope has a sunshade that allows searching the sky to within 45 degrees of the Sun,

Don't you mean 0.785398 radians?