From Earth's Harshest Landscapes to Lunar Horizons: Engineering NEA Telescopes for Extreme Environments
Abstract
Near-Earth Asteroids (NEAs) represent both a scientific opportunity and a potential threat to human civilization. While current survey programs have successfully detected most large NEAs, a significant observational gap remains for objects smaller than approximately 140 m, which can still produce regional-scale devastation. Ground-based surveys are intrinsically limited by atmospheric conditions, weather, and solar avoidance constraints, which leave a significant fraction of near-Sun objects difficult to detect. In particular, Earth-based observatories remain largely blind to objects approaching from the Sun-ward direction, reducing available warning times. Future lunar observatories offer a promising solution to this limitation. A telescope operating on the Moon could enable observations of regions inaccessible from Earth, provide enhanced sensitivity, and significantly improve early detection capabilities. However, the lunar environment imposes severe engineering constraints, including thermal cycling, dust contamination, radiation exposure, and autonomous operation requirements. We propose the AMAS(Atacama-Mongolia-Antarctica-Sahara) project, an international initiative using Earth's most extreme environments as analogue sites for future lunar astronomical facilities. By deploying and testing specialized NEA survey telescopes in these environments, key technologies for future lunar observatories can be validated under realistic operational conditions. This paper presents the scientific rationale, engineering challenges, site selection strategy, and long-term roadmap toward a global Earth-Moon network for planetary defense.
Versions
Related
- Early Optical Follow-up of Gamma-Ray Bursts: The Critical Role of Robotic Telescopes
- Progress in quantum telescopes
- A New Probe of Strongly-Interacting Dark Sector using Neutrino Telescopes
- CURTAIN: Towards a Foundation Model for Neutrino Telescopes
- A Differentiable Neural Surrogate for Photon Propagation in Neutrino Telescopes
BibTeX
@misc{hadjara2026from,
title = {{From Earth's Harshest Landscapes to Lunar Horizons: Engineering NEA Telescopes for Extreme Environments}},
author = {M. Hadjara and A. Pomazan and H. Ji and Q. Dong and J. Zheng and M. Yindun and L. Cament and M. Adams and M. Diaz and R. Mendez and B. Foing and M. Meftah and Z. Ping and R. Ikhlef and D. Baba Aissa},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2611.05435},
eprint = {2611.05435},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2611.05435},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - From Earth's Harshest Landscapes to Lunar Horizons: Engineering NEA Telescopes for Extreme Environments
AU - M. Hadjara
AU - A. Pomazan
AU - H. Ji
AU - Q. Dong
AU - J. Zheng
AU - M. Yindun
AU - L. Cament
AU - M. Adams
AU - M. Diaz
AU - R. Mendez
AU - B. Foing
AU - M. Meftah
AU - Z. Ping
AU - R. Ikhlef
AU - D. Baba Aissa
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/11/03
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2611.05435
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2611.05435
AB - Near-Earth Asteroids (NEAs) represent both a scientific opportunity and a potential threat to human civilization. While current survey programs have successfully detected most large NEAs, a significant observational gap remains for objects smaller than approximately 140 m, which can still produce regional-scale devastation. Ground-based surveys are intrinsically limited by atmospheric conditions, weather, and solar avoidance constraints, which leave a significant fraction of near-Sun objects difficult to detect. In particular, Earth-based observatories remain largely blind to objects approaching from the Sun-ward direction, reducing available warning times. Future lunar observatories offer a promising solution to this limitation. A telescope operating on the Moon could enable observations of regions inaccessible from Earth, provide enhanced sensitivity, and significantly improve early detection capabilities. However, the lunar environment imposes severe engineering constraints, including thermal cycling, dust contamination, radiation exposure, and autonomous operation requirements. We propose the AMAS(Atacama-Mongolia-Antarctica-Sahara) project, an international initiative using Earth's most extreme environments as analogue sites for future lunar astronomical facilities. By deploying and testing specialized NEA survey telescopes in these environments, key technologies for future lunar observatories can be validated under realistic operational conditions. This paper presents the scientific rationale, engineering challenges, site selection strategy, and long-term roadmap toward a global Earth-Moon network for planetary defense.
ER -