ESA’s planned Near-Earth Object Mission in the InfraRed (NEOMIR) will operate near the Sun–Earth first Lagrange point (L1), using infrared observations to detect asteroids approaching Earth from the direction of the Sun. The mission targets objects approximately 20 metres and larger—sizes comparable to the 2013 Chelyabinsk impactor—that ground-based optical telescopes can miss because sunlight overwhelms reflected light. ESA states that NEOMIR should identify such threats at least three weeks before impact, with launch planning centred on the early 2030s aboard an Ariane 6-2 rocket.[1][2]
NEOMIR addresses a structural weakness in current planetary-defence surveillance: the daytime sky near the Sun is an observational blind spot. Its infrared telescope will detect asteroid heat rather than reflected sunlight, repeatedly scanning a region as close as 30 degrees from the Sun; mission studies specify a roughly 0.5-metre telescope, two infrared channels covering 5–10 micrometres, and revisits every few hours.[2][5] Three weeks of warning could enable orbit refinement, civil-defence action, spacecraft repositioning, and—where an object is detected sufficiently early—mitigation planning. For lunar settlements, the same warning architecture protects launch windows, cislunar traffic, surface assets, and Earth-based industrial capacity supporting the Ark.[2][3]
The Ark team should treat NEOMIR as a required input to its hazard-monitoring architecture: track mission funding, sensor performance, launch date, L1 operations, and data-sharing arrangements with ESA’s Near-Earth Object Coordination Centre, the International Asteroid Warning Network, and the Space Mission Planning Advisory Group. Integrate NEOMIR alerts into lunar-base emergency procedures, inventory protection, launch scheduling, crew shelter protocols, and long-term civilisation continuity models; independently research whether comparable infrared surveillance is needed for lunar-impacting objects that do not threaten Earth.[5]