Published January 1, 2022 | Version v1
Journal article Open

Apophis Planetary Defense Campaign

Creators

  • 1. Univ Arizona, Lunar & Planetary Lab, Tucson, AZ 85721 USA
  • 2. NASA Headquarters, Planetary Sci Div, Planetary Def Coordinat Off, Washington, DC 20546 USA
  • 3. NASA Ames Res Ctr, Moffett Field, CA 94035 USA
  • 4. CALTECH, Jet Prop Lab, Pasadena, CA 91109 USA
  • 5. South African Astron Observ, ZA-7925 Cape Town, South Africa
  • 6. Weizmann Inst Sci, Fac Phys, IL-7610001 Rehovot, Israel
  • 7. Caltech IPAC, Pasadena, CA 91125 USA
  • 8. Univ Maryland, Dept Astron, College Pk, MD 20742 USA
  • 9. Univ Victoria, Victoria, BC V8W 3P6, Canada
  • 10. Northolt Branch Observ, Alfred Wegener Str 34, D-35039 Marburg, Germany
  • 11. Harvard Smithsonian Ctr Astrophys, Minor Planet Ctr, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA
  • 12. SpaceDyS Srl, I-56023 Navacchio Di Cascina, PI, Italy
  • 13. Soc Astron Schiapparelli, I-21100 Varese, Italy
  • 14. ESA NEO Coordinat Ctr, I-00044 Frascati, RM, Italy

Description

We describe results of a planetary defense exercise conducted during the close approach to Earth by the near-Earth asteroid (99942) Apophis during 2020 December-2021 March. The planetary defense community has been conducting observational campaigns since 2017 to test the operational readiness of the global planetary defense capabilities. These community-led global exercises were carried out with the support of NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office and the International Asteroid Warning Network. The Apophis campaign is the third in our series of planetary defense exercises. The goal of this campaign was to recover, track, and characterize Apophis as a potential impactor to exercise the planetary defense system including observations, hypothetical risk assessment and risk prediction, and hazard communication. Based on the campaign results, we present lessons learned about our ability to observe and model a potential impactor. Data products derived from astrometric observations were available for inclusion in our risk assessment model almost immediately, allowing real-time updates to the impact probability calculation and possible impact locations. An early NEOWISE diameter measurement provided a significant improvement in the uncertainty on the range of hypothetical impact outcomes. The availability of different characterization methods such as photometry, spectroscopy, and radar provided robustness to our ability to assess the potential impact risk.

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