Nautilus 空间天文台的小天体科学：从地月空间韧性到柯伊伯带至奥尔特云过渡区的测绘
Small-Body Science with the Nautilus Space Observatory: From Cislunar Space Resilience to Mapping the Kuiper-Belt-to-Oort-Cloud Transition
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology（麻省理工学院）
- Space Science Institute（太空科学研究所）
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory（劳伦斯利弗莫尔国家实验室）
- Steward Observatory, The University of Arizona（亚利桑那大学斯蒂沃德天文台）
- Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona（亚利桑那大学月球与行星实验室）
- Alien Earths Team, NASA ICAR/NExSS（NASA ICAR/NExSS 外星地球团队）
- Space Telescope Science Institute（空间望远镜科学研究所）
机构由 AI 辅助整理，请以论文原文为准。
AI总结：
提出双层小天体观测计划，结合4米NQI成像与50厘米级望远镜，测绘远太阳系并提升地月空间韧性。
AI中文摘要：
新一代天基天文台可以将小天体科学从近地月环境拓展到太阳系的动力学前沿，在那里，行星引力控制让位于银河系潮汐力和恒星遭遇。绘制这一前沿区域将揭示巨行星形成期间星子的散射过程、遥远储库中存留的原始天体数量，以及内奥尔特云中是否仍有大型天体未被发现。与此同时，穿越地月系统的米级至十米级自然天体频繁出现但特征描述不足。随着人类和机器人活动的扩展，这些天体的运行相关性不仅取决于其丰度，还取决于天体大小、遭遇几何、暴露的基础设施、预警时间和可用响应。月球撞击及撞击产生的喷射物构成一类事件，而具有未解决的地球或月球撞击概率的渐隐天体则构成另一类。在此，我们探索一个双层小天体计划，将直径4.0米的Nautilus Quattro成像（NQI）单元与一个示例性的分布式地月空间层（约50厘米级广角光学望远镜）相结合。地月空间层将表征近地自然天体群，支持高关注天体的快速分类和选择性监护，并监测月球撞击及喷射物；NQI深空搜索层将为暗弱天体恢复和远太阳系巡天提供精确天体测量和合成跟踪。两层结合将约束小撞击体群，解决渐隐的行星防御目标，并将远太阳系巡天推进至V波段星等约30等，从而在推进地月空间韧性的同时，实现对柯伊伯带至奥尔特云过渡区的测试。
英文摘要：
A new generation of space-based observatories can transform small-body science from the local Earth-Moon environment to the Solar System's dynamical frontier, where planetary control gives way to Galactic tides and stellar encounters. Mapping this frontier would reveal how planetesimals were scattered during giant-planet formation, how many primordial bodies survived in distant reservoirs, and whether large objects remain undiscovered in the inner Oort Cloud. At the same time, meter- to decameter-scale natural objects traversing the Earth-Moon system are frequent but poorly characterized. As human and robotic activity expands, their operational relevance depends not simply on abundance but on object size, encounter geometry, exposed infrastructure, warning time, and available response. Lunar impacts and impact-generated ejecta provide one class of events, while fading objects with unresolved Earth or lunar impact probabilities provide another. Here, we explore a two-layer small-body program combining a 4.0 m-diameter Nautilus Quattro Imaging (NQI) unit with an illustrative distributed cislunar layer of ~50 cm-class wide-field optical telescopes. The cislunar layer would characterize the nearby natural-object population, support rapid classification and selective custody of high-interest objects, and monitor lunar impacts and ejecta; the NQI deep-search layer would provide precise astrometry and synthetic tracking for faint-object recovery and distant-Solar-System surveys. Together, the two layers would constrain the small-impactor population, resolve fading planetary-defense targets, and survey the distant Solar System to Vmag ~30, enabling tests of the Kuiper-Belt-to-Oort-Cloud transition while advancing Earth-Moon space resilience.
