Recent discoveries and advances for the Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking program with MSSS 1.2-meter telescope

Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s (JPL) Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) program has two simultaneously-operating, autonomous search systems on two geographically-separated 1.2-m telescopes; one at the Maui Space Surveillance System (NEATMSSS) and the other on the Palomar Observatory’s Oschin telescope (NEAT/Palomar). This paper will focus exclusively on the NEAT/MSSS system. NEAT/MSSS is operated as a partnership between NASA/JPL and the United States Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), utilizing AFRL’s 1.2-m telescope on the 3000-m summit of Haleakala, Maui. The USAF Space Command (SPCMD) contributed financial support to build and install the “NEAT focal reducer ” on the MSSS telescope giving it a large field of view (2.5 square degrees), suitable for the near-earth object (NEO), both asteroids and comets, survey. This work was completed in February 2000. AFRL has made a commitment to NEAT/MSSS that allows NEAT to operate fbll time with the understanding that AFRL participate as partners in NEAT and have use of the NEAT camera system for high priority satellite observations during bright time (parts of 12 nights each month) [l]. As of September 1,2003 NEAT/MSSS has discovered 91 NEAs including 21 larger than 1-km, 15 Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs), 12 comets, and nearly 230,000 asteroid detections. 2. NEAT and NASA’s Near-Earth Object Program