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What activities does the UK currently undertake in this field?
In the past the UK Schmidt telescope at the Anglo-Australian Observatory in Australia has been used to carry out a major sky survey. The archive of this work is held at the Royal Observatory Edinburgh (ROE) and is currently being digitised to improve access and ease of use. This data is valuable for follow up activity, increasing the precision of orbit calculations for new sightings where archived images of a previous close approach can be found. Various UK funded observatories, at home and overseas, have also been used for observations related to the study of asteroids and comets. Work on related disciplines has also been performed in the UK, such as geology/planetology, the laboratory study of meteorites and (with European collaboration) study of the response of the Earth to impact processes. Within ESA the UK has been, or is, involved with such missions as Giotto and Rosetta, to visit comets. In the future (launch planned for around 2010) ESA science missions such as GAIA and BepiColumbo are expected to assist with the discovery and follow up of NEOs.
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