# # Program information file # PROGRAM_ID 2021B068 PROGRAM_TITLE IRTF NEO Rapid Response: Close Encounters of the Asteroid Kind PROGRAM_INV1 Nicholas Moskovitz PROGRAM_INV2 Richard Binzel PROGRAM_INV3 Bobby Bus PROGRAM_INV4 Peter Veres PROGRAM_INV5 Davide Farnocchia PROGRAM_SCICAT solar system PROGRAM_ABSTRACT_BEG Surveys for near-Earth objects are increasingly yielding predictions up to a few days in advance of extremely close encounters [< 0.001 AU; 0.4 lunar distances] and Earth-impacts [e.g. asteroids 2008 TC3, 2014 AA, 2018 LA, 2019 MO]. We have developed a Rapid Response plan for such encounters to enable SpeX+MORIS observations on the incoming [and possibly outgoing] sides of encounter. We provide rationale for three types of encounters inside 0.001 AU and anticipate roughly 1 interrupt per year. An exception for an additional interrupt would be made for discovery of a very low delta-v object outside the 0.001 AU threshold. PROGRAM_ABSTRACT_END