Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking with the Maui Space Surveillance System (NEAT/MSSS)

Over the last year the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's (JPL) Near-Earth Asteroid Tracking (NEAT) program has made significant progress and now consists of two simultaneously-operating, autonomous search systems on the 1.2-m (48") telescopes: on the Maui Space Surveillance System (NEAT/MSSS) and NEAT/Palomar on the Palomar Observatory's Oschin telescope. This paper will focus exclusively on the NEAT/MSSS system. NEAT/MSSS is operated as a partnership between NASA/JPL and the United States Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), utilizing the AFRL 1.2-m telescope on the 3000-m summit of Haleakala, Maui, The USAF Space Command (SPCMD) contributed financial support to build and install the 'NEAT focal reducer' on the MSSS 1.2-m telescope giving it a large field of view (2.5 square degrees), suitable for the near-earth object (NEO),both asteroids and comets, survey. This work was completed in February 2000. AFRL has made a commitment to NEAT/MSSS that allows NEAT to operate full time with the understanding that AFRL participate as partners in NEAT/MSSS and have use of the NEAT camera system for high priority satellite observations during bright time (parts of 12 nights each month). Currently, NEAT has discovered 42 NEAs including 12 larger than 1-km, 5 Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHAs), 6 comets, and nearly 25,000 asteroid detections since March 2000.