...with online streaming live for those who cannot attend...MEDIA ADVISORY: M10-105NASA HOSTS WORKSHOP TO DISCUSS EXPLORING NEAR EARTH OBJECTS...... The primary goals for the workshop are to increase the collective understanding of NEOs, communicate NASA's preliminary plans for a human mission to a NEO, and get input on proposed mission objectives. The workshop includes a series of briefings, panels, and breakout sessions. ....
One significant point for Human Spaceflight from these letters is the estimation that ~85-90% of the NEAs greater than 1.4 km have been found. So, even if the cut-off for human flights is 500 meters or so, the vast majority of the potential targets are already known...
Except for the ones with orbits entirely within Earth's orbit, which we will never see from Earth's surface. A tentative name for them was "Arjunas", a fourth class to be added to Apollos, Atens and Amors. I saw a new name for them the other day and forgot it already.My understanding is that we have virtually no idea how many or how big they are.
So, even if the cut-off for human flights is 500 meters or so, the vast majority of the potential targets are already known...
Quote from: spacester on 10/24/2010 08:20 pmExcept for the ones with orbits entirely within Earth's orbit, which we will never see from Earth's surface. A tentative name for them was "Arjunas", a fourth class to be added to Apollos, Atens and Amors. I saw a new name for them the other day and forgot it already.My understanding is that we have virtually no idea how many or how big they are.Not quite not idea; we can do orbital simulations to see how stable they would be, and the answer is not very. Also, there have been some surveys (hard from Earth, but not impossible), and there aren't much results, which jives with the simulations.From a HSF perspective, such objects are the hardest possible NEOs to reach, and the worst from a radiation perspective. So, not exactly great (or numerous) targets...