Annual Progress Report 2023

ANNUAL PROGRESS REPORT 2023

LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT This last year, we onboarded new talent to help fulfill our goal of developing tools and technologies to understand, map, and navigate our solar system. Our growing staff and technological progress would not have been possible without the Tito’s Challenge Grant, several anonymous leadership donors, and a global community of supporters new and old that generously stepped up to fund our work.

In addition, Google Cloud has been sponsoring our use of scalable computational and storage infrastructure for our Asteroid Discovery Analysis and Mapping (ADAM) platform.

In this year’s report, you will read about ADAM’s progress and our continued work to educate, engage, and inspire the public about asteroids. At the heart of this work is a growing team of skilled professionals. New this year are Alec Koumjian, Head of Software Engineering; Colleen Fiaschetti, Director of Special Projects; Spencer Nelson, Principal Software Engineer; Dr. Joachim Moeyens, Research Software Engineer; and Delphine Veronese-Milin, Science & Operations Associate. We also had a wonderful group of new and returning interns. Read more on page 16.

The William K. Bowes, Jr. Foundation’s leadership support, along with support from anonymous donors, played a crucial role in launching and funding the Asteroid Institute Fellows program at the University of Washington. In December of last year, Joachim Moeyens became the first PhD graduate of this program. Today, Dr. Moeyens works with our engineering team, contributing to the ongoing development and deployment of THOR on the ADAM platform. Read more on page 10.

Each year we support conferences and collaborations to advance asteroid science and the use of the ADAM platform. To that end, we sponsored the LSST Solar System Science Collaboration (SSSC), which is working to understand optimum survey strategies for discovering moving objects throughout the solar system. We also supported LSST@Europe5 to fund young PhD students and early career scientists to attend the conference focused on LSST science opportunities. And finally, we sponsored the biennial Planetary Defense Conference (PDC), as we have done since its inception. Attending the PDC in Vienna was a professional highlight for our team.

On June 30th, we returned to the California Academy of Sciences, where we hosted our first Asteroid Day in 2015, to launch our new program: the Schweickart Prize. Named in honor of B612’s co-founder Russell (Rusty) Schweickart, the prize aims to recognize

2

LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT

students and researchers furthering the field of planetary defense. The inaugural prize was awarded to Rusty in recognition of his significant contributions to space exploration, planetary defense, and public leadership over his 60-year career, which included being an Apollo 9 astronaut, operating as Director of Skylab-2, serving as

The Asteroid Institute team at the spring hackathon at the GooglePlex in Palo Alto.

From left to right: Colleen Fiaschetti, Venus Mack, Dr. Massimo Mascaro, Kathleen Kiker, Spencer Nelson, Dr. Ed Lu, Dr. Mario Juric, Danica Remy, Nate Tellis, Alec Koumjian, Dr. Joachim Moeyens.

NASA Director of User Affairs, and as California Energy Commission Chair, and also cofounding the Association of Space Explorers and Asteroid Day. Read more on page 22.

We also used the occasion to celebrate our 20th Anniversary, commemorating B612’s history, pivots, and advancements over the past two decades. We were joined by board members, including Chair Peter Schwartz, Lawrence Wilkinson, Geoff Baehr, and, most importantly, our dedicated community of supporters.

Each year, we are inspired by the energy, enthusiasm, and continued evolution of the independently organized Asteroid Day events worldwide. Astronomy clubs, universities, research centers, governments, and others took the opportunity to educate and inspire people about asteroids in their own language. These events help shift the global movement to a local and meaningful conversation. Read more on page 18.

The achievements of the past year stand as a testament to the collaborative spirit of our dedicated team, made possible through the unwavering support of our generous donors and advisors. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to all who have been a part of our crew, making our mission to explore and safeguard our solar system a reality.

Looking ahead,

Danica Remy President, B612 Foundation Co-Founder, Asteroid Day

LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT

3

ABOUT US

ASTEROID INSTITUTE

Asteroid Institute, a program of B612, brings together scientists, researchers, and engineers to develop tools and technologies to understand, map, and navigate our solar system. Leveraging advancements in computer science, instrumentation, and astronomy, our mission is to support economic space exploration, enhance our understanding of the solar system’s evolution, and protect our planet from asteroid impacts.

ASTEROID

EDUCATION

Since 2002, B612 has supported public advocacy and educational programs, including the new Schweickart Prize, Asteroid Day, and global internships. Our work has been carried out entirely through the support of private donors from 46 countries.

What started in 2002 as a visionary idea to develop the technology to deflect an asteroid has grown into a world-renowned organization and scientific institute with a key role in the astronomy community. For years, B612, our partners, and a global community of dedicated scientists and researchers have advocated for increased asteroid detection. Many victories have resulted from those efforts, and asteroid detection and deflection are now debated seriously in scientific, governmental, and public conversations.

IN THE LAST YEAR ADAM::Precovery In August, we launched ADAM::Precovery, the first publicly available service run on our ADAM platform. Precovery allows users to confirm and refine the orbits of asteroids by rapidly searching through a collection of astronomical datasets that have been curated and hosted on Google Cloud. The launch of Precovery marks the first public service provided by the Asteroid Institute.

ESA and JPL Risk List Part of the new ADAM::Precovery includes nightly searches of all 1400 asteroids listed on the European Space Agency’s

It felt like Googling the imaged sky!

and NASA JPL’s Risk Lists. If any new objects have been

DR. ZELJKO IVEZIC, DIRECTOR OF THE RUBIN

added to either list, or any objects have had their orbits

OBSERVATORY ON OUR ADAM::PRECOVERY

updated, a new precovery search is triggered. Any findings by the Institute are then reported to the Minor Planet Center, the official body for observing and reporting on small-bodied objects, to update orbits of known asteroids.

Schweickart Prize The launch of our new program, the Schweickart Prize, named after our co-founder Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart, will inspire a new generation of planetary scientists. The prize will be awarded on a yearly basis to young students supporting efforts in the field of asteroid science, research, education, and policy work.

Planetary Defense Conference B612 returned for its 8th year as a founding sponsor of the biennial Planetary Defense Conference. Hosted in Vienna, Austria, the Asteroid Institute team shared the work on the ESA/JPL Risk List monitoring capabilities.

Hackathons We hosted our first hackathon of the year with our strategic partners at the GooglePlex in Palo Alto, CA. The second hackathon coincided with the triennial Asteroids, Comets, and Meteors Conference in Flagstaff, AZ where our team had the chance to engage with current and future users of the ADAM platform.

The coast of Brittany, France.

Photo by Ed Lu from the ISS IN THE LAST YEAR

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ASTEROID INSTITUTE LETTER FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Mapping our solar system is a collaborative undertaking involving numerous scientists, researchers, observatories, and global supporters. The Asteroid Institute team plays a growing and integral role in this global initiative. We do this work because we know that the tools we are developing will bring significant benefits for humanity. This past year, the Asteroid Institute laid the foundation for the launch of our ADAM::Precovery service, which allows asteroid hunters to locate known objects in historical datasets, significantly enhancing orbit accuracy and our impact-probability calculations. Learn more about the service on page 8.

This year, we also implemented our unified dataset, which allows us to make use of multiple astronomical datasets, including many that were never intended for asteroid discovery. By ingesting as many astronomical surveys into this unified dataset as we can, we are creating an incredibly powerful tool for asteroid discovery. The Asteroid Discovery Analysis and Mapping (ADAM) platform now holds approximately 5.3 billion point sources. This unique dataset is precisely what we and our fellow astronomers believe could assist in discovering millions of unseen moving objects. This system, run on Google Cloud, will enable our cutting-edge tools like Precovery and THOR to run at scale and be accessed by anyone worldwide. Read more on page 10.

The Asteroid Institute also actively participates in conferences to engage with the astronomy community, solicit valuable feedback, and nurture the growth of young researchers. This year, our engineers and scientists attended the Planetary Defense Conference, as well as the Asteroids, Comets, and Meteors conference. Our presentations on Precovery and forthcoming THOR services generated significant interest and enthusiasm within the astronomical community. These partnerships are integral to our mission of developing a robust, reliable, and scalable mapping platform.

Additionally, through our historical advocacy efforts and the global attention of the DART mission, the opportunity to test new methods of asteroid deflection has never been more attainable. We hope to see a technology-demonstration mission of the gravity tractor tested soon. Read more on page 12.

I look forward to reporting on more asteroid discoveries in the near future!

Dr. Ed Lu Executive Director, Asteroid Institute 6

LETTER FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Photos on pages 2 and 6 by Christopher Michel

ASTEROID DISCOVERY PROGRESS More than 99% of the asteroids large enough to destroy a city (like the Tunguska asteroid) remain untracked.

NEAR-EARTH ASTEROID SIZE RANGES

19–44 m

Over 1 km

140 m–1 km

44–140 m

Chelyabinsk, 2013 19 m (62 ft)

Tunguska, 1908 45 m (148 ft)

140 m (459 ft)

More than 30 A-bombs

More than 400 A-bombs

More than 7,000 A-bombs

CITY KILLER

NASA GOAL

More than 150,000 A-bombs CIVILIZATION ENDER

There are

There are

25,000

There are

There are

2.5 million

near-Earth asteroids in this size range.

near-Earth asteroids in this size range.

500,000

near-Earth asteroids in this size range.

1% tracked

1,000

near-Earth asteroids in this size range.

30% tracked

93% tracked

LSST & NEOSM 2008–2030 (EST. COMPLETION)

SPACEGUARD SURVEY 1998–2010 (COMPLETED)

0.1% tracked

NEAR-EARTH ASTEROIDS TRACKED As of October 1, 2023, the Minor Planet Center has 32,960 near-Earth asteroids in its database.

This year, 1,914 new NEAs were discovered, largely by Pan-STARRS and Catalina Sky Surveys.

ASTEROID INSTITUTE ADAM::PRECOVERY

By Kathleen Kiker In August, Asteroid Institute announced the launch of a new publicly available online precovery service, a tool for refining asteroid orbits. The service, which runs on our Asteroid Discovery Analysis and Mapping (ADAM) platform, is a key component to reliable asteroid discovery. Orbit refinement enhances the accuracy of orbital predictions by incorporating new observations. This is vital for pinpointing an object’s location, predicting orbit evolution, and assessing its potential impact on Earth. Often, additional observations are obtained through expensive follow-up campaigns or specialized searches within astronomical surveys. For those lacking such resources and for objects beyond telescopic reach, ADAM::Precovery (pronounced Precovery on ADAM) bridges the gap.

“Precovery” enables us to discover objects in observations that were previously overlooked. As asteroids are typically detected using multiple nightly observations, many images remain unlinked to specific objects. Precovery rectifies this by identifying these overlooked images, even in datasets not initially intended for asteroid detection.

Although precovery is not a new concept, it was historically a manual process involving laborious tasks like hand-scanning photographic plates. ADAM::Precovery streamlines this process, making it universally accessible. The service preprocesses point-source catalogs into a unified data format, allowing the precovery algorithm to swiftly retrieve relevant observational data for comparison with the orbit. Operating on Google Cloud’s Kubernetes, it can efficiently handle thousands of orbits in hours.

Orbit refinement is crucial for Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) that might impact Earth, as even minor variations in time or position can significantly alter outcomes. ADAM::Precovery contributes to identifying observations of dangerous asteroids listed by JPL’s and ESA’s Risk List, enhancing our ability to assess risks. The service scans these lists nightly, utilizing ADAM::Precovery to identify new observations for human vetting.

Precovery is also key to the Trackletless Heliocentric Orbit Recovery (THOR) algorithm for asteroid discovery. Unlike traditional tracklet-based methods, THOR detects asteroids using archival data, often providing orbits with limited observations. Precovery refines these uncertain orbits, aiding in rejecting false linkages. ADAM::Precovery’s speed and scalability are crucial for processing the extensive dataset.

ADAM::Precovery’s effectiveness was showcased in July by rapidly locating additional observations of Potentially Hazardous Asteroid 2022 SF289, demonstrating its utility in real-time situations. Dr. Zeljko Ivezic praised its rapidity, likening it to “Googling the imaged sky.”

8

ADAM::PRECOVERY

Beyond risk assessment, orbit refinement plays a pivotal role in asteroid missions, aiding target selection and mission planning. The space mining company Karman+ used precovery to identify potential mission targets.

The demo for ADAM::Precovery is accessible on the new B612.ai website. Users can input orbits or search for specific asteroids, and the service will retrieve matching observations from the NOIRLab Source Catalog and Zwicky Transient Facility.

About Kathleen Kathleen (Kat) Kiker is part of the ADAM software engineering team, focusing on orbital determination. Her prior research focused on black-hole formation, binary stars, and a number of large-scale physics simulations. She is skilled in a range of programming, modeling, and graphing tools to solve physics problems. Kat earned a bachelor’s degree with honors in physics from the New College of Florida, and a master’s degree in physics from George Mason University.

ADAM::PRECOVERY

9

ASTEROID INSTITUTE THE KEY TO MAPPING OUR SOLAR SYSTEM

By Alec Koumjian Throughout history, the aggregation of data and images has consistently paved the way for the development of remarkable technologies, benefiting people from diverse backgrounds and serving various purposes worldwide. In the early 2000s, a company called Keyhole Inc. undertook the task of organizing a huge volume of satellite, terrain, and mapping data and creating a software platform to leverage it. That platform would later become a key component of Google Maps. Asteroid Institute has embarked on a similar path using astronomical data, aiming to develop a tool that has the potential to significantly enhance our understanding and interaction with space.

Today, the ability to map the solar system is limited in several directions. The first is insufficient observational data. Even when tallied together, historical surveys have captured only a fraction of the objects out there. The good news is that LSST and other upcoming surveys will increase the available data by orders of magnitude. Even with sufficient observations, there remains the enormous task of attributing billions of points of light to known or as-yet-undiscovered objects, including Potentially Hazardous Asteroids. Once discovered and verified, the task continues as those objects must be tracked continuously with updated observations due to the dynamic nature of orbital mechanics.

Starting in the fall of 2022, Asteroid Institute began to formalize a plan to collect and normalize point-source data from many different surveys. Currently that dataset comprises roughly 5.3 billion point-source observations from 14 telescopes and growing. This is curated to maximize the discovery and accurate mapping of the orbits of solar system bodies, with a special focus on Near-Earth Objects and Potentially Hazardous Asteroids. Building and continuously refining this dataset requires a variety of bespoke software pipelines that draw data from SQL-like TAP databases, CSV files, and other formats. This system is developed quickly by taking advantage of Google Cloud orchestration on Kubernetes and using virtually limitless storage mediums like Cloud Storage and BigQuery.

The creation of this dataset has generated some interesting findings, including discrepancies in the reporting of millions of observations to the Minor Planet Center. Yet the real focus of this collection is under active development. Earlier this year, Asteroid Institute released a version of ADAM::Precovery that can scan the dataset’s billions

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THE KEY TO MAPPING OUR SOLAR SYSTEM

of observations to find additional sightings of known objects. Next, the Institute is preparing to run the cadence-independent linking algorithm, THOR, using this dataset as its source for discovery. What should follow is a virtuous cycle of discovery and attribution, as the enormous amount of computation is done to solve this bewildering version of connect the dots.

PUBLIC ASTRONOMICAL SURVEY DATA

Asteroid Discovery Analysis and Mapping (ADAM) Platform

NOIRLab

GOOGLE KUBERNETES ENGINE

Pan-STARRS

COMPUTATIONAL JOBS

Catalina Real-Time Transient Survey

DATA PIPELINE

API SERVICES

Zwicky Transient Facility Large Synoptic Survey Telescope FUTURE DATA SETS

Unified Astronomical Data

Job Results

ADAM-DATASET CLOUD STORAGE

About Alec Alec Koumjian is the Head of Software Engineering. With a dual degree in Computer Science and Physics from Marlboro College, he has over a decade of experience with writing software and leading teams across diverse industries including machine learning. His technical background includes building scalable APIs, job systems, vector based search engines, and code performance analysis in addition to frontend development.

THE KEY TO MAPPING OUR SOLAR SYSTEM

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ASTEROID INSTITUTE GRAVITY TRACTOR In early 2000, co-founders Dr. Ed Lu, Rusty Schweickart, Dr. Piet Hut, and Dr. Clark Chapman gathered to discuss how to further the efforts in the emerging field of planetary defense. At the time, most space agencies were in the process of developing and evolving programs focused on spearheading efforts in detecting, monitoring, understanding, and mitigating Near-Earth Objects. Acknowledging the need for innovative approaches to asteroid deflection, B612 dedicated resources to develop research, advocate, and create proposals for planetary defense technologies. This endeavor ultimately led to the invention of the Gravitational Tractor in 2005.

Developed by astronauts Dr. Stanley Love and Dr. Ed Lu, the Gravitational Tractor, also known as the “Gravity Tractor,” offered a solution for altering the trajectory of an asteroid in a highly controllable fashion. The concept involves strategically positioning a spacecraft near an asteroid decades before its predicted impact, utilizing the craft’s gravitational mass to gradually alter the asteroid’s orbit over time. Introduced in a November 2005 publication in Nature, it received validation in 2008 through a report funded by B612 and conducted at JPL. Over a decade later, we were able to celebrate the first ever deflection demonstration.

NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission was launched in 2021 with a goal to test the kinetic impactor technique. The concept is simple: slam a spacecraft into an asteroid at high velocity to modify its trajectory. On September 26, 2022, DART successfully executed its primary mission by impacting Dimorphos, the moon of asteroid Didymos, resulting in a 33-minute alteration of its orbit around Didymos, and thereby proving the engineering behind the kinetic impactor.

Through B612’s advocacy efforts and following the success of the DART mission, there is now heightened enthusiasm to protect the Earth from asteroids. According to the Pew survey conducted May 30–June 4, 2023, monitoring asteroids that could potentially hit the Earth ranks at the top of the public’s priority list for NASA. The Asteroid Institute, along with our partners at Google, University of Washington, Vera C. Rubin Observatory, and Institute for Data-intensive Research in Astrophysics and Cosmology (DiRAC) are working together to make finding and tracking Potentially Hazardous Asteroids a reality. The Asteroid Discovery Analysis and Mapping (ADAM) platform is now hosting the first publicly accessible service to precover unattributed objects through cutting-edge algorithms, a unified observational dataset, and the high-compute power of Google Cloud.

While it’s encouraging that the kinetic impactor has been demonstrated, a key missing component of any future asteroid deflection campaign is a supplementary, controllable fine-tuning deflection method. With sustained funding, B612 will continue to advocate for a Gravity Tractor demonstration.

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GRAVITY TRACTOR

Gravitational tractor for towing asteroids

by Dr. Stanley Love and Dr. Ed Lu published in Nature 438, 177-178 (2005)

GRAVITY TRACTOR

13

PROGRAM EVOLUTION 2002

2012–2013

2016

2018

B612 founded with goal to significantly alter the orbit of an asteroid in a controlled manner.

Open letter sent to NASA about deflection-mission planning and discussions regarding potential impact of asteroid 2011 AG5.

Asteroid Day is recognized by the United Nations and holds 500 events worldwide.

B612 launches Asteroid Institute fellows program.

2004–2008 B612 leads the Apophis debate.

2005 B612 announces invention of gravity tractor in Nature.

2008–2009 B612 funds design study at JPL showing feasibility of the gravity tractor.

B612 begins Asteroid Discovery Analysis and Mapping (ADAM) project.

B612 announces the Sentinel Space Telescope project.

B612 endorses NEOCam and LSST for 100 m+ solution and stops fundraising for Sentinel project.

2014–2015 B612 releases asteroid-impact video with data from the Comprehensive Nuclear-TestBan Treaty Organization.

2017

Asteroid Institute announces Google and AGI as ADAM technology partners.

Asteroid Day holds 2,000+ events worldwide, streams a 48-hour global broadcast.

Asteroid Institute publishes synthetic tracking results as a NASA technical report.

Asteroid Institute focuses on providing analytical tools for asteroid-defense scenarios on ADAM.

B612 is lead Founding Partner of Asteroid Day, a global asteroid-awareness campaign.

Asteroid Day moves to Luxembourg and streams a 24-hour global broadcast.

B612’s “Sentinel to Find 500,000 Near-Earth Asteroids” published in IEEE Spectrum.

B612 publishes call for shared solar system map in Financial Times.

Asteroid Day project holds 150 events worldwide.

2014

2012

2010

SENTINEL

200

2 200

200

4

6

2008

B612 funds Caltech research study to validate synthetic tracking feasibility.

E EBAT HIS D P O OR AP RACT IT Y T V A GR

2005 Congress gives NASA goal of finding 90 percent of asteroids larger than 140 meters, called the George E. Brown, Jr. NearEarth Object Survey Act.

2006 United Nations ASE NEO Committee initiated.

ASE NEO

EE COMMITT

2012–2013

2016

2018

A 19 m meteor explodes over Chelyabinsk, Russia, injuring over 1,500 people and damaging thousands of buildings across six cities.

NASA announces Planetary Defense Coordination Office.

Pew Research poll shows Americans believe asteroid monitoring should be national priority.

2014–2015

2017

UN Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space and General Assembly pass resolution creating International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN).

DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) is funded.

Construction for Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) begins.

OSIRIS-REx mission to asteroid Bennu launches.

Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment (AIDA) almost funded by EU and USA.

United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (OOSA) publishes Planetary Defence Report.

2019

2020

2021

2023

Asteroid Institute research on deflection impulses to move asteroids presented at Planetary Defense Conference.

Asteroid Institute paper “Required deflection impulses as a function of time before impact for Earth-impacting asteroids” published in Icarus.

ADAM team releases opensource code THOR and is published in the Astronomical Journal.

ADAM::Precovery service publicly launches and discovers new observations of PHA 2022 SF289.

Asteroid Institute hosts ADAM hackathons (virtual in 2020).

B612 sponsors and presents at virtual Planetary Defense Conference.

Asteroid Day goes virtual and broadcasts 30 days of Asteroid Day TV.

B612 sponsors and presents LSST Solar System Science Collaboration Conference.

Schweickart Prize launches to recognize young researchers for their contributions to asteroid science, research, and policy work.

ADAM engineering team hired.

2022

Asteroid Day celebrates 5th anniversary and streams 21day global broadcast.

B612 launches ADAM Engineer Funding campaign.

The New York Times announces news of the first 104 asteroids found by Asteroid Institute using THOR on ADAM.

B612 sponsors and presents LSST Solar System Science Collaboration Conference.

Asteroid Institute presents at Asteroids, Comets, Meteors Conference.

0

TRACKIN G

ASTERO ID

ASTER OID D AY DISCOV ERY A NALYS IS AN D MA

20 22

202

SYNTHETIC

2018

2016

Asteroid Institute launches precovery API on ADAM.

B612 sponsors and presents at the Planetary Defense Conference.

PPIN G (AD AM)

RESE ARC H FE LLO WS

2019

2020

2021

Hayabusa2 spacecraft surveys asteroid Ryugu.

LSST changes its name to the Vera C. Rubin Observatory.

25th Anniversary of NEAR Shoemaker mission.

Associated Press research shows Americans believe asteroid monitoring should be a national priority.

Hayabusa2 collects asteroid Ryugu samples and heads back to Earth.

Hayabusa2 returns asteroid Ryugu sample to Earth.

Hera mission funded.

OSIRIS-REx collects a sample of asteroid Bennu.

OSIRIS-REx heads back to Earth with asteroid Bennu sample.

DART mission launches.

2022 DART spacecraft successfully crashes into Dimorphos altering the asteroid’s orbit.

2023 OSIRIS-REx returns to Earth with samples of asteroid Bennu.

NASA launches Psyche spacecraft to metallic asteroid 16 Psyche.

Pew Research poll shows Americans believe asteroid monitoring should be national priority.

ASTEROID INSTITUTE TEAM & COLLABORATORS* Colleen Fiaschetti, Director Special Projects BA, Seattle University, Graphic Design Colleen joined in fall of 2022. She holds over a decade of experience organizing and leading programs, crafting clear communication for complex topics. She brings diverse experience in creative leadership, relationship management, and planning. Her previous experience includes leading Asteroid Day Global in Luxembourg.

Delphine Veronese-Milin, Science & Operations Associate BA, University of California, Berkeley, Astrophysics Delphine joined in spring 2023. She received a bachelor’s degree in Astrophysics from University of California Berkeley and is currently working towards a master’s in Data Science from Harvard University. Prior to joining the team, she interned at NASA Ames where her work centered on creating cratering models for Saturn’s moons.

SUMMER INTERNS Tanay Bhadra, USA

Mallory Helfenbein, USA

Pursuing BA

Pursuing BA

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY

Physics, Astrophysics

Astrophysics, Data Science

Jonathan Lee, USA

Eli Lingat, USA

Pursuing BA

Pursuing BS

BROWN UNIVERSITY

UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON

Computer Science

Physics, Astronomy

Amelia Whitlow, USA

Sherry Yang, China

Pursuing BS

Pursuing BS

UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON

UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON

Astronomy, Physics

Computer Science, Engineering

* This list does not represent all of the researchers 16

TEAM & COLLABORATORS

and collaborators at the Asteroid Institute.

Alec Koumjian, Head of Engineering BS, Marlboro College, Physics + Computer Science Alec joined in fall of 2022 and has over 12 years of experience deploying software and leading engineering teams. His prior roles include CTO, Principal Engineer, VP of Engineering, and founder. He has built APIs, job systems, ETL, MLOps systems, CI/CD pipelines, frontend, and mobile apps. He is an experienced product owner and product manager, overseeing both strategic and tactical product development.

Spencer Nelson, Principal Software Engineer BS, Northwestern University, Astrophysics Spencer joined in early 2023 with a focus on software design and architecture and a background in large-scale distributed systems and reliability. He has previous experience at Rubin Observatory, Amazon Web Services, and was among the early members of the Twitch.tv team. At Northwestern, he worked on statistical and computational measurements of molecular concentrations in star-forming regions.

Dr. Joachim Moeyens, Research Software Engineer PhD, University of Washington, Astronomy Joachim joined in early 2023 and has a dual appointment at the University of Washington and Asteroid Institute. In 2021, he was awarded an Asteroid Institute fellowship, which led to him completing his PhD in 2022. He leads the development of the Tracklet-less Heliocentric Orbit Recovery (THOR) algorithm—a next-generation asteroid discovery algorithm designed to find asteroids in datasets not historically suited for such searches.

TEAM & COLLABORATORS

17

ASTEROID

EDUCATION

ASTEROID DAY GLOBAL For the eighth year in a row, B612 was a proud sponsor of Asteroid Day, celebrated annually on June 30th and recognized by the United Nations internationally. Asteroid Day 2023 saw more than 450 events registered and still counting. Independent event organizers hosted a plethora of engaging activities, from augmented-reality simulations to quizzes and workshops.

On June 30th, asteroid experts, scientists, and astronauts (including our strategic advisor and Romanian cosmonaut Dumitru-Dorin Prunariu) converged in Luxembourg to share advances in the field. With a familyoriented program, folks could hear from visiting speakers on the main stage or participate in learning activities, from painting on a giant papier-mache asteroid to programming space rovers and launching Lego rockets.

While experts gathered in Luxembourg, the worldwide team of organizers produced their own independent events: • In Bologna, Italy, the INAF Sorvegliati Spaziali hosted an exhibition of rare meteorites and relics from the Tunguska and Chelyabinsk events. The event also included Augmented Reality (AR) asteroid-impact simulations.

• In Rochechouart, France, the Center for International Research and Restitution on Impact and on Rochechouart (CIRIR) hosted multiple events, attracting young artists to participate in a drawing competition, while astronomers and researchers from the region showcased posters in an exhibition.

• At the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco, volunteers and Asteroid Institute team members educated the public on our work, and provided children photo-booth opportunities with cutouts of astronauts Ed Lu and Rusty Schweickart.

• The park in Gancedo, Argentina, known for housing the massive El Chaco meteorite, buzzed with activities centered around asteroids. With widespread media coverage, excursions and caravans from various cities brought the public together for a full day of scientific and cultural experiences.

• The Al-Najm Al-Thaqib Astronomical Association in Algeria invited the public to interact with astronomers and learn about the positioning of asteroids through informative posters showcasing the solar system.

Astronomy clubs and organizations around the world took the opportunity to educate people about asteroids in their own cultures, in their own personalized way. These organizations help shift the global movement to a local and meaningful conversation.

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ASTEROID DAY GLOBAL

ASTEROID

EDUCATION

The Asteroid Education program increases awareness about asteroids and science through public speaking and exposure in the media. In addition to Asteroid Day, this year we shared stories about our work and why the world should learn more about asteroids.

We have highlighted a few public education activities from this last year.

Dr. Ed Lu

Dr. Ed Lu

RAINBOW MANSION

CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

Dr. Ed Lu gave a talk at the Rainbow Mansion,

Dr. Ed Lu presented the case for a four-

a storied intentional community of young

dimensional map of the solar system at

space entrepreneurs. After the presentation,

the California Academy of Sciences Dean

a Q&A took place with discussions on future

Lectures. “Location-based services of the

scientific explorations and resource utilization.

solar system are going to be the key to the economic development of space,” he said.

March

June

Rusty Schweickart

B612 20th Anniversary Celebration

TEDxSONOMA

CALIFORNIA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

“We have the technology today to find

B612 celebrated our 20th Anniversary this

asteroids and predict their impact,” said

year with the launch of the Schweickart

Rusty Schweickart in his TEDxSonoma talk

Prize, a planetarium show, and evening

where he highlighted B612’s work in asteroid

event. Achievements over the years include

detection and the importance of protecting

inventing the Gravity Tractor, co-creating

humankind from these cosmic collisions.

the United Nations NEO Committee, and establishing new technologies such as ADAM and THOR.

20

ASTEROID EDUCATION

Kathleen Kiker

Asteroid Institute

THE PATH PODCAST

AVIATION WEEK NETWORK

Asteroid Institute engineer Kathleen Kiker

“With ADAM::Precovery we had the answer

joined Casey Moninghoff on The Path Podcast

in minutes. It felt like Googling the imaged

for an interview exploring the importance of

sky!” said Dr. Zeljko Iveziv Director of the

asteroid research and tools that have been

Rubin Observatory in an article in Aviation

developed to understand, map, and navigate

Week Network featuring Asteroid Institute’s

our solar system.

Precovery service and its future applications in asteroid research.

July

August

Dr. Ed Lu MBN-USAGM “ALHURRA TONIGHT” Dr. Ed Lu was interviewed on Middle East Broadcasting exploring the application of AI in asteroid research and detection, and how it can be used to avoid future impacts.

ASTEROID EDUCATION

21

ASTEROID

EDUCATION

Schweickart Prize On June 30th, B612 celebrated International Asteroid Day by launching the Schweickart Prize, a distinguished accolade named after our co-founder, Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart. This prize recognizes exceptional contributions to the field of planetary defense and the advancement of humanity’s cosmic journey, and underscores the importance of collective responsibility in safeguarding our transition into the wider cosmos. Awardees will receive $10,000 USD along with global exposure through a press campaign and will be presented with a unique award featuring a museum-quality meteorite, symbolizing the prize’s existential purpose.

Dr. Franklin Chang-Díaz, NASA astronaut and CEO of Ad Astra Rocket Co, commended Schweickart’s role in elevating the issue of planetary defense through the Association of Space Explorers, which led to global discussions at the United Nations. The prize is a fitting tribute to Schweickart’s lifetime of leadership.

Anousheh Ansari, CEO of XPRIZE and private space explorer, emphasized the prize’s alignment with Earth’s preservation from threats, making it a beacon of achievement for those working on asteroid-impact prevention. “I’ve seen how prizes are able to really bring about innovation and create excitement and awareness and change mindset. I’m hoping that this prize will embody everything that Rusty has demonstrated throughout his career.”

Awarded on an annual basis starting in 2024, the Schweickart Prize targets graduate students in the fields of asteroid-threat detection, mitigation strategies, civil protection, public education, or responsibilities for geopolitical decisions.

Schweickart Prize nominations opened this October at Schweickartprize.org. The prize committee includes experts in astronomy, planetary science, aerospace, and space policy including Anousheh Ansari, Dr. Richard Binzel, Dr. Jeffrey Hoffman, Dr. Irmgard Marboe, Dr. Patrick Michel, Dr. Hong-Kyu Moon, Oliver Morton, Dr. Soichi Noguchi, Dr. Dorin Prunariu, Dr. Frans G. von der Dunk, and other esteemed members.

Founding Sponsors of the Schweickart Prize include Anousheh Ansari, Barringer Crater Company, B612 Foundation, Future Ventures, Geoffrey Notkin, Jurvetson Family Foundation, Meteor Crater, Randy Schweickart and Michelle Heng, Rusty B. Schweickart and Joanne Keys, and others.

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SCHWEICKART PRIZE Photos by Christopher Che

FOUNDING CIRCLE ANONYMOUS x 7

Dane Glasgow

Bill Anders

Steve and Julie Grimm

Geoffrey Baehr

Garrett Gruener and Amy Slater

William K. Bowes, Jr. Foundation*

VK Hsu & Sons Foundation Ltd.

Brian Burton and James Mercer,

James D. and Justin Jameson

Broken Bells Don Carlson

Steve Jurvetson*

Vinton and Sigrid Cerf

Dominik Kaiser

Y(lmc) and Clark Chapman

Steve Krausz

Emily and David Corrigan

Vladas Lašas

Asa Denton

James Leszczenski

Esther Dyson

David Liddle and Ruthann Quindlen

Alan Eustace

Suzanna Mak

Sasha Galitsky

Greg and Lacey McAdoo

Eliot Gillum

Scott McGregor and Laurie Girand

Glaser Progress Foundation

John Montrym

*Leadership Gift ($1 M–$5 M)

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FOUNDING CIRCLE

Margaret Jonsson Family Foundation

ASTEROID CIRCLE Matt Mullenweg

ANONYMOUS

Diane Murphy

Rick Armstrong

Peter Norvig

Barringer Crater Company

Shervin Pishevar

Rodney Brooks

Peggy Rawls Family Fund

Jim Chervenak

Ray Rothrock

Explorers Club

Edwin Sahakian

Lynn and Anisya Fritz

Rusty Schweickart and Nancy Ramsey

Arthur Gleckler and Kristine Kelly

Tim Trueman

Jensen Huang

Robert C. and Fallon B. Vaughn

Tito’s Handmade Vodka*

Matthew and Sarah Welty Ben Wheeler Yishan Wong and Kimberly Algeri-Wong Matthew Wyndowe

Pictured at Meteor Crater in Arizona, May 2023: (First row, left to right) Meghan McCandless, Allan Posner, Elyse Posner, Sarah Gilman, Delphine Veronese-Milin, Kathleen Kiker, Rakan El-Khalil, Bob Zucker, Steve Krausz (Second row, left to right) Danica Remy, Merel Kennedy, Nicholas Brysiewicz, Henry Elkus, Ann-Kathrin Rudel, Will Jack, Daniel Keller, Cristiana Brusco, Leonardo Mascaro, Orion Manley, Anmar El-Khalil, Niles Tilenius (Third Row, left to right) Colleen Fiaschetti, Tim Trueman, Adrian Lurssen, Nate Tellis, Marc Bielas, Kezie Nwachukwu, Cameron Najafi, Massy Mascaro, Eric Tilenius, Scott Manley ASTEROID CIRCLE

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We have donors from 46 countries.

COMMUNITY OF SUPPORTERS Gifts $500–$24,999*

Anousheh Ansari

Joel and Joy Kellman

David and Abby Rumsey

Juli Betwee

Isabella Kirkland and Chris Tellis

Jack and Betty Schafer

Joseph Biernat

Robert Klepa

Scott Schneider

Richard Bowen

Aki Korhonen

Stacy Schusterman

John Clendenin

Lee Kuyper

Peter and Cathleen Schwartz

John Conery

Samuel Lichtenstein

Randy Schweickart and Michelle Heng

George Cornecelli

Christine and Ed Lu

Russell Schweickart and Joanne Keys

Jonathan Dagle

Robert Macartney

Rick Stawicki

Sean Devine

Massimo Mascaro

Stroum Family Foundation

Tyler Edwards

John Kenneth Menges Jr

Tarpenning-Schillinger Family Fund

Albert Ender

David and Janet Morrison

Angie and Richard Thieriot

Ray Erikson

Tom Moss

Eric W. Tilenius

Frank Fiaschetti

Jonathan Nagin

Newell and Alice Troup

Joseph Fischer

Geoffrey Notkin

James and Cynthia Walker

Dennis and Pamela Fisco

Scott Penberthy

Rogers Weed

Future Ventures

Alex Popa

Al Werner

Patrick Garvey

Mitchell Portnoy

George and Loretta Whitesides

John Geesman

Dirk Pranke

Clare Whitfield

Jeffrey Hungerford

Christian Principi

Lawrence Wilkinson

Robert Jedicke

Matthew Ramsey

Jon Winston

Jurvetson Family Foundation

David Ramsey

William and Anya Wright

Jeanne-Marie Kaufmann

Ron and Kirstie Rosano

* From September 1, 2022,to October 1, 2023 Fisheye view of Arizona and Utah.

Photo by Ed Lu from the ISS Cover: Brazil Photo by Ed Lu from the ISS

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COMMUNITY OF SUPPORTERS

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

B612 FOUNDATION

HEADQUARTERED

Peter Schwartz, Chair

Danica Remy, President

IN SILICON VALLEY

Geoffrey Baehr

Joelle Byars, Writer & Operations Associate

Dr. Clark Chapman, Co-Founder

Colleen Fiaschetti, Director of Special Projects

Dr. Dan Durda

Merel Kennedy, Graphic Design

Garrett Gruener

Delphine Veronese-Milin, Science & Operations Associate

Dr. Ed Lu, Co-Founder Danica Remy, President

MAILING ADDRESS

20 Sunnyside Ave., Suite F Mill Valley, CA 94941 United States Phone 650-644-4539 www.b612.ai www.b612foundation.org

Lawrence Wilkinson

ASTEROID INSTITUTE, A PROGRAM OF B612

ASTEROID DAY, A PROGRAM OF B612

Dr. Ed Lu, Executive Director

Anna Bordus, Program Director, Luxembourg

ADAM PROJECT TEAM

Rhea Abdo, Communications Coordinator, France

Alec Koumjian, Head of Engineering

Saulo Machado, Global Event Coordinator, Brazil

Kathleen Kiker, Software Engineer

Dr. Brian May, Co-Founder, United Kingdom

Dr. Joachim Moeyens, Research Engineer

Danica Remy, Co-Founder, California, USA

Spencer Nelson, Principal Software Engineer

Grig Richters, Co-Founder, Germany

Allan Posner, Engineer and Astrodynamicist

Rusty Schweickart, Co-Founder, California, USA

Nate Tellis, Software Engineer

RESEARCH COLLABORATORS

ADAM PROJECT INTERNS

Aidan Berres, Software Developer

Tanay Bhadra, University of California, Berkeley, USA

Dr. Marc Buie, Mission Scientist

Mallory Helfenbein, University of California, Berkeley, USA

John Carrico, Astrodynamicist

Jonathan Lee, Brown University, USA

Dr. Siegfried Eggl, Research Collaborator

Eli Lingat, University of Washington, USA

Hank Grabowski, Engineer and Astrodynamicist

Amelia Whitlow, University of Washington, USA

Dr. Sarah Greenstreet, Senior Researcher

Sherry Yang, University of Washington, China

Dr. Scott Hubbard, Mission Strategist Dr. Mario Juric, Research Collaborator Emmie King, Software Engineer Mike Loucks, Astrodynamicist Samira Motiwala, Astrodynamicist Dr. Harold Reitsema, Mission Director Jeff Rothermel, Avionics Engineer Dr. Sam Waldman, Avionics Engineer Dr. Vivek Vittaldev, Mission Researcher

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