3.5-meter Segmented-Mirror Robotic Space Telescope Mission White Paper IV. Key Scientific Mission: Solar-System Small Bodies and Planetary Defense

Year: 2026

Type: preprint

Abstract: The baseline 0.2--1.5 $μ$m observatory provides rapid-response astrometry, visible and near-infrared taxonomy, rotation and phase curves, recovery, and long-arc orbit improvement for near-Earth objects and other small bodies. The instrument study also evaluates calibrated throughput to 2.70 $μ$m with a 3.0 $μ$m operational band-edge goal. A reduction to 2.5 $μ$m remains the formal engineering off-ramp if thermal, detector, cooling, mass, power, or cost constraints require it. The 3.5-meter Segmented-Mirror Robotic Space Telescope does not carry a mid-infrared channel. Coordinated ground-based mid-infrared telescopes provide the thermal fluxes required to infer diameter and albedo, while the space mission supplies contemporaneous reflected-light measurements and observing geometry. The program combines recovery, physical characterization, orbit refinement, and covariance-based hazard assessment. Its CODES dynamics system and OGFinder-to-OpenOrb processing path connect measured astrometry to reproducible orbit solutions and close-approach predictions.

Source: arXiv (Cornell University)

DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2609.03371

Institutions: Korea Institute for Advanced Study, Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, University of Ulsan, Kyungpook National University, Space Telescope Science Institute, Pusan National University, Korea National University of Education, Seoul National University, Yonsei University

Language: English

Topic: Astro and Planetary Science

Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: green

OpenAlex ID: W7208765123