The SSA NEO Segment and Gaia: Present Opportunities and Future Developments

One of the major elements of the ESA Space Situational Awareness (SSA) programme is devoted to NEO hazard monitoring through the set-up and the operation of a dedicated data centre [1]. This implies the availability of advanced systems for orbit computation and impact monitoring, the possibility to store and retrieve all relevant data (orbital parameters, physical properties, raw image archives etc) and the coordination of NEO observations for discovery and follow-up. Thus the aim of the SSA NEO Segment is to become a worldwide reference for potential SSA customers and stakeholders such as the scientific community, governmental institutions, insurance companies and the public at large. The NEO Segment is presently in the Precursor Services phase and the deoployment of a NEO Data Centre at ESRIN (Frascati, Italy) has been successfully achieved.