Why can't my nation simply subscribe to NASA's CNEOS data feed instead of building its own survey capability?

CNEOS data is publicly available today, and most nations should use it. The sovereignty argument is about the second-order effects: who decides which objects get priority follow-up, who holds unpublished pre-release tracks during a sensitive confirmation period, and who has a seat at the table when SMPAG recommends a deflection mission. A nation with no independent observational contribution has no standing in those conversations. Contributing astrometry—even from a modest constellation—buys geopolitical inclusion.

What orbit should a sovereign NEO survey constellation use?

For broad-sky optical survey, a polar or high-inclination LEO constellation at 550–700 km altitude avoids thermal cycling extremes and allows frequent downlinks, but suffers from the sunward blind spot. The highest-value architecture is a single mid-size spacecraft in a Venus-trailing or Earth-Sun L1 halo orbit for infrared survey, supplemented by LEO optical cubesats for follow-up astrometry. Most sovereign programmes will start LEO and plan the deep-space asset as a phase-two upgrade.

How large an impactor can a nanosatellite constellation realistically detect?

A 6U–12U cubesat with a 5–10 cm aperture can detect objects brighter than roughly magnitude 18–19 under ideal conditions, corresponding to NEOs larger than about 500 m at 0.1 AU. For the 140 m threshold mandated by most planetary-defence policy frameworks, you need apertures of 30–50 cm or larger—firmly in the microsatellite (100–500 kg) class. A realistic sovereign constellation for 140 m-class detection requires four to eight microsatellites, not dozens of cubesats.

What is the Minor Planet Center and why does it matter to our programme?

The Minor Planet Center (MPC), operated by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory under IAU auspices, is the single authoritative global repository for all minor-planet astrometry. Any new observation—from a sovereign satellite or ground telescope—must be reported to the MPC using its standard 80-column format for it to count toward official discovery credit and to be incorporated into impact-probability calculations. Without MPC submission, your detections are scientifically and legally invisible.

How does a nation get a seat in the Space Mission Planning Advisory Group (SMPAG)?

SMPAG membership is open to any space agency with demonstrated planetary-defence capacity. The UN COPUOS resolution establishing SMPAG (A/AC.105/1022) invites agencies to self-nominate. In practice, agencies with operational survey assets or confirmed deflection-mission capability carry significantly more influence in SMPAG deliberations than observers. Running even a modest sovereign survey constellation is the minimum credible entry ticket.

Are there any international treaty obligations that govern what a nation does if it discovers a threatening NEO?

No binding treaty currently mandates specific discovery-disclosure timelines, but IAWN's agreed protocols (endorsed by COPUOS) call for immediate notification to IAWN member organisations and the MPC once an object reaches a Torino Scale level of 2 or above. A sovereign programme should embed these notification workflows into its ground-segment operations from day one—both for legal good standing and to ensure its data is taken seriously by the international community during a genuine warning event.

What is a realistic budget for a sovereign first-generation NEO survey constellation?

A four-satellite microsatellite constellation (each ~150 kg, 30 cm aperture, visible-band) with a dedicated ground station and five-year operations budget is achievable in the $200–400 million range for a nation with existing small-satellite manufacturing capability. Infrared detector procurement under ITAR control and radiation-hardened electronics are the primary cost and schedule risk drivers. Adding a dedicated data-processing pipeline and MPC-compatible astrometry software adds roughly $20–40 million over the programme lifecycle.

How does planetary-defence survey data interact with our national civil defence planning?

Detection alone is not protection. A sovereign survey capability must feed directly into civil-emergency management chains: predicted impact corridors, evacuation radius estimates, and public communication protocols all require pre-agreed interfaces between the space agency and national civil-defence authorities. Nations that treat the survey satellite as a science mission and forget the civil-defence downstream will discover this gap at the worst possible moment.

15.8.1Soon

NEO Discovery Surveys

Scientists at telescope control screens reviewing asteroid survey imagery at night — A lone astronomer scans the night sky, part of a global effort satellites now supercharge to detect Earth-threatening objects sooner.

How Satellites Accelerate NEO Discovery Surveys

1
Space Telescope
Infrared sensor scans ecliptic plane nightly
2
Downlink
Raw image frames relayed via ground stations
3
Automated Pipeline
Moving-object detection flags candidate NEOs
4
Planetary Defence Hub
Orbit solutions issued to global alert networks

Space-based survey telescopes detect faint NEOs and feed automated pipelines that deliver verified threat alerts worldwide.

Page in the build queue

This application has its place in the atlas. The full page — short and long descriptions, what-matters bullets, sovereignty rationale, and the eight-field architecture block — is being written next.

Maturity reading: Demonstrators flown or funded; service expected inside 36 months. Phase 1 built §4.1 (Maritime Intelligence) end-to-end as the depth-and-format reference. Section 4 is the next section to graduate from scaffold to full content; the rest follow on the roadmap.

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15.8.2 · Next

Kinetic Impact Demonstrators

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