
Asteroid Surveys
About
Catalina Sky Survey
The mission of the Catalina Sky Survey is to contribute to the inventory of near-earth objects (NEOs), or more specifically, the potentially hazardous asteroids (PHAs) that pose an impact risk to Earth and its inhabitants.
The identification of the iridium anomaly at the Cretaceous-Tertiary boundary (Alvarez et al. 1980), associated Chicxulub impact crater (Hildebrand et al. 1991) and the Permian-Triassic "great dying" possibly being associated with Australian Bedout Crater (Becker et al. 2004) strongly suggest that impacts by minor planets play an important role in the evolution of life.
SPACEWATCH®
The primary goal of SPACEWATCH® is to explore the various populations of small objects in the solar system, and study the statistics of asteroids and comets in order to investigate the dynamical evolution of the solar system. SPACEWATCH® also finds potential targets for interplanetary spacecraft missions, provides follow-up astrometry of such targets, and finds objects that might present a hazard to the Earth.
Faculty
Asteroid Surveys Faculty

Robert (Bob) McMillan
Research Professor (Retired)
Asteroid Surveys, Planetary Astronomy, Small BodiesOther Researchers
Asteroid Surveys Researchers

Adam Battle
R&D Software Engineer, SPACE 4 Center
Asteroid Surveys, Small Bodies, Space Situational Awareness
Melissa Brucker
Principal Investigator, Spacewatch, Research Scientist
Asteroid Surveys, Small BodiesCarson Fuls
Director, Catalina Sky Survey, PTYS Graduate Student
Asteroid Surveys, Small Bodies
Hannes Gröller
Research Scientist/Assistant Staff Scientist
Asteroid Surveys
Steve Larson
Research Scientist/Senior Staff Scientist
Asteroid Surveys, Small Bodies
Bashar Rizk
Research Scientist/Senior Staff Scientist, OSIRIS-REx/OCAMS
Asteroid Surveys, Planetary AtmospheresSupport Staff
Asteroid Surveys Support Staff

Tracie Beuden
Survey Operations Specialist, Catalina Sky Survey
Asteroid Surveys
Terrence Bressi
Engineer/Observer, Spacewatch
Asteroid Surveys
Vivian Carvajal
Survey Operations Specialist, Catalina Sky Survey
Asteroid SurveysDon Fay
R&D Systems Engineer, Catalina Sky Survey
Asteroid Surveys
Jacqueline Fazekas
Research Technologist, Catalina Sky Survey
Asteroid Surveys
Alex Gibbs
Principal Engineer, Catalina Sky Survey
Asteroid Surveys
Albert Grauer
Technical Expert, Catalina Sky Survey
Asteroid Surveys
Joshua Hogan
Research Technologist, Catalina Sky Survey
Asteroid Surveys
Richard Kowalski
Research Specialist, Senior, Catalina Sky Survey
Asteroid Surveys
Jeffrey Larsen
Technical Expert, Spacewatch
Asteroid Surveys
Gregory Leonard
Research Specialist, Senior, Catalina Sky Survey
Asteroid Surveys
Ronald Mastaler
Observer, Spacewatch
Asteroid Surveys
David Rankin
R&D Operations Engineer, Catalina Sky Survey
Asteroid Surveys
Michael Read
Chief Engineer/Observer, Spacewatch
Asteroid Surveys
James Scotti
Observer, Spacewatch
Asteroid Surveys
Robert Seaman
Data Engineer, Senior, Data Engineer, Senior, Catalina Sky Survey
Asteroid Surveys
Frank Shelly
Senior Systems Programmer, Catalina Sky Survey
Asteroid Surveys
Andrew Tubbiolo
Engineer/Observer, Spacewatch
Asteroid Surveys