Monitoring small solar system bodies in order to evaluate potential hazards

Near-Earth objects (NEOs) are leftover building blocks from the early Solar System that have been nudged into Earth’s neighbourhood by the gravitational effects of nearby planets. The vast majority are comets and asteroids, which, when they come close to Earth pose a risk to humans as well as to civil infrastructures like buildings and urban areas.

ESA’s Near-Earth Object Coordination Centre (NEOCC), located at the Agency’s ESRIN establishment near Rome, is the central access point for a growing network of European NEO data sources and information providers, established under ESA’s space safety and security activities, known formally as the Space Situational Awareness (SSA) programme.

Coordinating and contributing to the observation of small solar system bodies in order to evaluate and monitor their hazardousness, the NEOCC relies on advanced systems for orbit computation and impact monitoring, as well as tools and data required for performing vital risk assessments.

The centre is also the focal point for scientific studies needed to improve NEO warning services and provide near-real-time data to European and international scientific bodies, international organisations and decision-makers.