The European Commission funded NEO-MAPP project in support of the ESA Hera mission: Near-Earth Object Modelling And Payload for Protection

NEO-MAPP stands for Near Earth Object Modelling And Payload for Protection. This project is funded by the H2020 program of the European Commission and addresses the topic "Advanced research in Near Earth Objects (NEOs) and new payload technologies for planetary defence" (SUSPACE-23-SEC-2019). NEO-MAPP selected as primarily reference scenario the ESA Hera mission, which has recently been approved by the ESA Council at Ministerial Level, Space19+, in November 2019 for launch in 2024. The main goal of NEO-MAPP is to support the development and data analysis of NEO missions, as Hera and provide significant advances in both our understanding of the response of NEOs to external forces (in particular a kinetic impact or a close planetary approach), and in the associated measurements by a spacecraft (including those necessary for the physical and dynamical characterization in general).