Near-Earth object velocity distributions and consequences for the Chicxulub impactor

CubeSail for Near Earth Object Observation

Microsatellites known as “CubeSats” have recently been developed to enable comparatively inexpensive and timely access to space for small payloads. As a new standard for small satellites, the CubeSat has shown great promise for space applications such as earth observation, planetary science and space physics mission. In this paper a “CubeSail” mission – a CubeSat deployed with a solar sail –for...

Identifying near Earth Object Families

The study of asteroid families has provided tremendous insight into the forces that sculpted the main belt and continue to drive the collisional and dynamical evolution of asteroids. The identification of asteroid families within the NEO population could provide a similar boon to studies of their formation and interiors. In this study we examine the purported identification of NEO families by D...

Adventures in near-Earth object exploration.

Asteroids, because of the hazard they pose to Earth, are compelling targets for robotic and human space exploration. Yet because of their exotic low-gravity environment, simply landing on an asteroid appears to be much more challenging than we had appreciated 5 or 10 years ago. Thanks to a bold new mission from Japan that has made the first asteroid sample return attempt, this goal is now withi...

Understanding the Near-Earth Object Population: the 2004 Perspective

Geochemical arguments for an Earth-like Moon-forming impactor.

Geochemical evidence suggests that the material accreted by the Earth did not change in nature during Earth's accretion, presumably because the inner protoplanetary disc had uniform isotopic composition similar to enstatite chondrites, aubrites and ungrouped achondrite NWA 5363/5400. Enstatite meteorites and the Earth were derived from the same nebular reservoir but diverged in their chemical e...