It’s time for another SBAG meeting (NASA Small Bodies Assessment Group, www.lpi.usra.edu/sbag/). This one was a bit light; we’re in a moment of history where, by chance, missions are either pending launch (under construction), or launched (in cruise, and nothing happening). It’s not all circus and sideshows; sometimes, it’s more like Alien and everyone happens to be in hypersleep.
(see the program)
– Bennu sample in study, first official paper in Meteor. & Planet. Sci. Allocation of grains to begin
– OSIRIS-APEX survived perihelion- not built to get this close to Sun. Will go inside Venus
– Apophis ‘solicitation’ to interested (space) orgs; what can you do before 2029?
– Psyche ok as I had mentioned- now useful as space ‘weather buoy’
– no Lucy news (as of Jul); all news was at last (Winter) SBAG
– Hera progressing- LIDAR now commercial unit; Milani cubesat passed review
– no MMX news; delay to 2026 given at last SBAG
– NEO Surveyor Mission passed CDR- no surprises
– no Planetary Radar developments (i. e., Arecibo replacement), still official SBAG policy
– Mars Sample Return creates ‘hole’- lack of contract to award this year looks like budget cut
– Lesser funding opportunities for researchers at small tasks
– DSN (Deep Space Network) like PR- clearly an open issue, no announcements yet
– …Planetary Defense budget item after DART, NEOSM? still a priority… no named line item
– Lindley Johnson (NASA Planetary Defense chief) in emeritus (soft retirement) for a year
– WISE (Wide-field Infrared Spectr. Explorer) to be safed for decay- late ‘24/early ‘25
– Interagency exercise 5– ‘medium’ notional asteroid, years of warning; NO REAL THREAT
– ESA soliciting international participation for Ramses mission– instruments, launch vehicle?
– Is Ceres an ocean world? not officially but might as well- enough water to draw bio level 4/5
– NEO WARP meeting report: solidifying placeholder spacecraftS, depending on scenario
– Work continues modeling asteroid disruption, Earth damages (i. e., heavy numerical sims)
– Centaurs review “textbook”- IOP, not UAz, ~$35 ebook, ~$190 paper; out next year?
– MPC very customer-centric, many functions/tools… hiring software devs
– indirect Chinese participation by US scientists legal- Chang’e 5 samples, Chang’e 6?
So much in the pipeline, so just wait.