… see also SBAG Day 1 and Day 2 …
And now let’s conclude this writeup of the early-‘25 SBAG (Small Bodies Assessment Group) meeting, the 32nd:
Thursday, January 9, 2025
Publishing Updates
10:00 AM Maria Womack Centaurs Book
10:10 AM Geraint Jones Exocomet Meeting Proceedings
10:20 AM Richard Binzel Space Science Series – Comets III available, even print
10:30 AM Christina Gifford Icarus
10:40 AM Faith Vilas Planetary Science Journal
10:50 AM All Open Mic
Technology Applications for Small Bodies
11:00 AM Dan Adamo Human Exploration Advancements – ‘Cycler’ Amors 1996 XB27
11:15 AM Lori Feaga Autonomous Navigation Demonstration Relevance Assessment Team Report – demonstrated decades ago, still underused
11:25 AM Carol Raymond European Service Module — Use Case for Small Bodies
11:35 AM All Open Mic
11:45 AM Break
JWST Small Bodies Science Reports
12:00 PM John Noonan Volatile Depletion and Water Production in Main Belt Comet 358P/PanSTARRS: Insights from JWST Observations
12:10 PM Driss Takir Low-Albedo and Inclination Asteroid Families as Tracers for Water and Organics in the Inner Solar System
12:20 PM Neill Reid JWST/HST Budget Summary HS-SR, JW <15y
12:35 PM All Open Mic
12:45 PM Lunch
Inter-AG Working Group Reports
2:15 PM Paula do Vale Periera Ocean Worlds Working Group (OWWG) Update
2:25 PM Hannah Kaplan Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (EDIA) Working Group Update
2:35 PM Andrea Guzman EDIA in Practice at UCF
2:50 PM All Open Mic
Meeting Announcements
3:00 PM Brent Barbee, Davide Farnocchia Planetary Defense Conference (May 2025, South Africa)
3:05 PM Alan Stern Progress in Understanding the Pluto System: 10 Years After Flyby (July 2025, Laurel, MD)
3:10 PM Patrick Michel Hera Workshop (Spring 2025, Japan)
3:15 PM Patrick Michel Binary Asteroids VI (September 2025, France)
3:20 PM Richard Binzel Apophis T-4 Years (April 2025, Japan)
3:25 PM All Open Mic
4:00 PM End of Community Meeting
– To start off, publications briefings: the Comets III textbook is now shipping, from the University of Arizona Press’ “Space Science” line; we got an update on their corresponding Centaurs text; will there be more titles? The editors are soliciting authors and titles for further Space Science books, for (and from) the community. We also had speakers from the journals Icarus, PSJ, and JGR.
– Dan Adamo spoke on “cycler” asteroids. The concept is that heavy Mars travel would be via mid-Mars asteroids as a “layover.” Asteroids like… 1996 XB27, already identified as a favorably-traveling target, including as an emergency abort haven. At minimum, it could be a communication relay during Mars solar conjunctions. (Personally, I don’t find that case compelling… unless the asteroid is being developed anyway.) Should that asteroid have resources on it, all the better.
– Lori Feaga reports that asteroid OpNav (using asteroids as beacons for spacecraft navigation cameras) has not developed, nor flown openly since the Deep Space 1 mission in the 2000s. Why?
– Multiple workers are doing comet (and “comet”) studies with James Webb Telescope capabilities. Some of this work was possible from the ground, but the sensitivity of JWST- and with an aperture that still competes with our best ground telescopes- is just transformative.
– Hubble is now in Senior Review to extend its mission (i. e., more money). Once a mission has run its intended length and hit its initial goals, it goes to Senior Review to approve (or not…) an extended mission. HST has some degradation- how could it not- but it’s mainly operational; it will likely stay in orbit for the rest of the decade. And there’s the dilemma: in order for Hubble to get operating funds for another (unplanned, originally) period, that money had to come from something else. This is the dilemma Chandra is also facing. At some point, legacy missions become redundant to new, better flights.
– Similarly, JWST is running. It is still oversubscribed; it has consumables (propellant) for an expected >15 years
– Some briefings from other AGs: Ocean Worlds Working Group (OWWG) includes Ceres and possibly some of the large KBOs. The Working Group is weighting both a science pull and a technology push; its guiding document is now in draft, speak up while you can!
– Meetings, meetings, meetings! https://iaaspace.org/event/9th-iaa-planetary-defense-conference-2025/
https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/plutosystem2025/
http://tinyurl.com/BinaryAsteroidsIV
https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/apophis2025/