Capturing near earth objects

Capturing near-Earth asteroids around Earth

The list of detected near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) is constantly growing. NEAs are likely targets for resources to support space industrialization, as they may be the least expensive source of certain needed raw materials. The limited supply of precious metals and semiconducting elements on Earth may be supplemented or even replaced by the reserves floating in the form of asteroids around the sol...

Near - Earth Objects

Because the NEO population is constantly evolving and being replenished from the main asteroid belt and cometary reservoirs, it consists of objects with a variety of compositions and internal structures. These objects present unique opportunities for future planetary science goals and exploration. In order to realize these opportunities for future NASA studies, an expanded program for NEO disco...

Origin and Evolution of Near-Earth Objects

Asteroids and comets on orbits with perihelion distance q < 1.3 AU and aphelion distance Q > 0.983 AU are usually called near-Earth objects (NEOs). It has long been debated whether the NEOs are mostly of asteroidal or cometary origin. With improved knowledge of resonant dynamics, it is now clear that the asteroid belt is capable of supplying most of the observed NEOs. Particular zones in the ma...

Rubble-Pile Near Earth Objects: Insights from Granular Physics

NEOKepler: Discovering Near-Earth Objects Using the Kepler Spacecraft

The Kepler Mission has been an irrefutable success. In the last 4.5 years, it has monitored 150 confirmed exoplanets in over 75 stellar systems and detected an additional ∼3,300 planet candidates. Using these data, we have learned the size distribution of planets in our galaxy, the likelihood that a star hosts an Earth-sized planet, and the percentage of stars that contain multiplanet systems. ...