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A Distributed Computing System Supporting Near Earth Asteroids Research
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| We will develop a Distributed Computing system dedicated to Near Earth Asteroids (NEAs) research. This system will incorporate a
mature tool for Celestial Mechanics computations (ORSA) into a well established Distributed Computing infrastructure (BOINC), and
will be used in two different problems. The first application of this system is in the improvement of the performance of NEAs surveys,
by implementing a search strategy that maximizes the volume covered in the NEAs orbital elements space. This produces a very
accurate estimate of the unbiased NEAs population, and uses the entire set of astrometric observations of reference surveys to
determine the optimum scheduling that maximizes probability to detect new NEAs. The second application is the monitoring of the
impact hazard by NEAs, improving on standard systems in terms of response time, accuracy, and accounting for non-gravitational
effects. It uses a distributed version of the Monte Carlo sampling method, which tracks the dynamical evolution of virtual asteroids to
determine the statistical probability of an impact with Earth. This proposal addresses the AISR goal to demonstrate the degree of
relevance, applicability, and potential impact of distributed computing (an emerging information technology) to the NEA SMD
program. This proposal also addresses the NASA strategic sub-goal 3C: Advance scientific knowledge of the origin and history of the
solar system, the potential for life elsewhere, and the hazards and resources present as humans explore space, by advancing our
knowledge about the NEAs population and its impact threat. |
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