Solar Cartography

[NUAETIUS]

At some point in the future there is going to be an international push to track all bodies in orbit around the sun above a certain mass and velocity.  The reasons to do this projects are many fold:

-Predicting impacts into other planets

-Protection of the earth from Extinction level events,

-Finding targets of interest for further study, or mining

I am sure I am missing many more.  Using current or near term technologies, is it possible to start, or even complete such a study?  I assume you would need a network of satellites to do such a study, where would they be placed?  How many would it take to do such a survey?  What would be the minimal size body that would need to be tracked to insure the safety of Earth?

If this subject has been broached before can someone point me to the thread? (I looked and couldn't find anything that discussed the techniques).

[hop]

Such a projects already exist, although they are focused on hazards rather than utilization. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near-Earth_object#Projects_to_minimize_the_threat  will give you some links to get started with.

[JohnFornaro]

Just a minor quibble, but when you said "solar cartography"  I was thinking about the Sun's surface and how that would be mapped.  Solar geography is not stationary like on hard planets.  Would the term: "Solar System Cartography" be more accurate?

[Jim]

Just a minor quibble, but when you said "solar cartography"  I was thinking about the Sun's surface and how that would be mapped.  Solar geography is not stationary like on hard planets.  Would the term: "Solar System Cartography" be more accurate?

Bingo

[Hop_David]

At some point in the future there is going to be an international push to track all bodies in orbit around the sun above a certain mass and velocity.  The reasons to do this projects are many fold:

-Predicting impacts into other planets

-Protection of the earth from Extinction level events,

-Finding targets of interest for further study, or mining

I am sure I am missing many more.  Using current or near term technologies, is it possible to start, or even complete such a study?  I assume you would need a network of satellites to do such a study, where would they be placed?  How many would it take to do such a survey?  What would be the minimal size body that would need to be tracked to insure the safety of Earth?

If this subject has been broached before can someone point me to the thread? (I looked and couldn't find anything that discussed the techniques).

There are two very exciting upcoming missions.

WISE
Most asteroid size estimates are guesstimates based on their magnitude. Since their albedo is unknown, it's hard to determine size by the amount of light reflected. However WISE will scan the sky for infra red. If simultaneous measurements of heat being radiated and light reflected are made, we'll have a better handle on understanding our asteroids.

Canada's NEO space telescope
Asteroids with a apohelion at or less than 1 AU are hard to see. When they're close to us the phase angle hinders visibility, we're viewing mostly their night side. They spend most of their time in the day sky. If they're out at night they're close to the horizon where the atmosphere obscures. I believe existing NEO search programs search around the zenith of the night sky. Since the inner system asteroids have shorter periods, they pass by our planet more frequently and are therefore more dangerous. Canada's space telescope will search our inner solar system for asteroids.

Some of the very good search programs going on now are NEAT, LINEAR and the Catalina Sky Survey.

I am hoping the University of Hawaii's Pan-STAARS telescope will come online soon. This scope will have a monster CCD array.

JPL has a page where you can get info on the growing body of known NEOs.

[JulesVerneATV]

an old topic on warnings across the Solar System, the Aircraft makers are worried and its not a Carrington Event or most intense geomagnetic storm


“Ground them now”: Airbus orders immediate halt to 6,000 A320 flights over solar radiation risk
https://euroweeklynews.com/2025/11/28/ground-them-now-airbus-orders-immediate-halt-to-6000-a320-flights-over-solar-radiation-risk/


Software issue in Airbus A320 caused by solar radiation creates turbulence disruptions on flights worldwide
https://en.protothema.gr/2025/11/29/software-issue-in-airbus-a320-caused-by-solar-radiation-creates-turbulence-disruptions-on-flights-worldwide/

[Twark_Main]

an old topic on warnings across the Solar System, the Aircraft makers are worried and its not a Carrington Event or most intense geomagnetic storm


“Ground them now”: Airbus orders immediate halt to 6,000 A320 flights over solar radiation risk
https://euroweeklynews.com/2025/11/28/ground-them-now-airbus-orders-immediate-halt-to-6000-a320-flights-over-solar-radiation-risk/


Software issue in Airbus A320 caused by solar radiation creates turbulence disruptions on flights worldwide
https://en.protothema.gr/2025/11/29/software-issue-in-airbus-a320-caused-by-solar-radiation-creates-turbulence-disruptions-on-flights-worldwide/

I wish Airbus HQ had the same urgency when the hazard comes from random bird strikes vs random solar storms...   



Is there some human bias toward preferentially mitigating exotic scary hazards over mundane everyday hazards?   


So, just bear in mind that the "urgent" quotations above are partly driven by the sheer novelty of the root cause, and not necessarily because there's an unusually high level of risk vs other aviation recalls.

[Vultur]

Is there some human bias toward preferentially mitigating exotic scary hazards over mundane everyday hazards?   

Pretty clearly. "Familiarity breeds contempt."

Why is Chernobyl a household name in the US, but Bhopal not, despite the latter being far deadlier and involving a largely US owned company? Because nuclear stuff is "exotic and scary" and chemical plants are not.

[edzieba]

I wish Airbus HQ had the same urgency when the hazard comes from random bird strikes vs random solar storms...   

Birdstrike protection and mitigation is a collection of existing well known requirements in aircraft design, from cockpit windows to bird ingestion in engines (with testing birdstrike tolerance at full scale being part of engine certification).
You've just invented a false and imaginary dichotomy.