SYN - The interplanetary survey

Abstract

Our close neighbourhood in space contains numerous small bodies. Due to their faintness most are still unknown to us: some may be dormant comets, others are probably remnants of objects from which the Earth and other planets formed. They tell us much about origin of our Planetary System. Improved knowledge of their physical structure and total numbers is essential for understanding the cratered surfaces of planets and moons, as well as the details of their interaction with the geological and biological systems of the Earth. Finally, they include the most accessible objects outside the Earth-Moon system, a factor which makes them ideal candidates for space exploration. The potential as future sources of space material is clear but still largely unexplored. We plan to construct a 2.7-meter telescope optimized to discover all objects in our neighbourhood down to 1 km in size. Advanced image-processing software using modern state-of-the-art parallel-processing techniqueswill analyse a rapid flow of images from the sky, searching for moving objects. These will be identified and follow-up programs will determine their orbits, physical size and composition and the likelihood of possible future encounters with the Earth or other planets. The total cost for this 10 year project is estimated to be 180 million SEK.