PRIMitive Asteroids Spectroscopic Survey - PRIMASS: Current Status

Pinilla-Alonso, N.; de León, J.; Morate, D.; de Prá, Mario; Lorenzi, Vania; Licandro, J.; Campins, Humberto; Ali-Lagoa, Victor
Bibliographical reference

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #49, id.117.08

Advertised on:
10
2017
Number of authors
8
IAC number of authors
3
Citations
0
Refereed citations
0
Description
Primitive asteroids contain the most pristine material that gave birth to the rocky planets. Interest in spectral data from primitive asteroids that could be the source of the primitive near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) has increased in anticipation of the two sample-return missions that will reach their targets in the next four years and bring samples to the Earth within five years. Concurrently, the discovery of water ice on the surfaces of two primitive asteroids (24 Themis and 65 Cybele) placed the focus on the outer-belt (orbits with semi-major axis larger than 2.82 AU), where more asteroids could harbor water ice on, or below the surface.In 2010 we started a survey, called the PRIMitive Asteroids Spectroscopic Survey (PRIMASS), to collect spectra of primitive asteroids all through the Solar System. Up to now, PRIMASS library (PRIMASS-L) contains more than 530 spectra (0.4 - 2.5 μm) of primitive asteroids (> 90% of the asteroids had no spectroscopic data before) in the inner and outer belt. The aim of this survey is to provide the community with a comprehensive collection of data that enable us to study the surface composition of primitive asteroids by means of visible and near-infrared spectroscopy.Our plans for the close future include making PRIMASS-L publicly available in proper timing to be used by the teams of the OSIRIS-REx (NASA) and Hayabusa 2 (JAXA) missions. These missions will characterize two primitive near-Earth asteroids in detail, and the Earth-based libraries, as PRIMASS-L, will establish the broader framework and maximize the value of the spacecraft results. PRIMASS-L will also serve as a quality-check database for the Gaia spectroscopic products that will be published in its final release, by the end of the nominal mission in 2019.In parallel, we plan to continue observing at least for four more semesters (up to semester 2019A). After almost 10 years of data acquisition, the PRIMASS database will contain about 700 spectra of primitive asteroids in the inner and outer belt.In this work, we present the current state of the PRIMASS survey, and we include major results from the data already analyzed. Finally, we will draft the plans for the future.