Asteroids and Near-Earth Objects

The high sensitivity of the LMT allows it to observe the thermophysical properties of material at and below the surface of small objects in the solar system. These objects include asteroids, such as those in the Asteroid and Kuiper Belts, and Near Earth Objects, whose orbits approach or cross that of Earth. The LMT will be capable of conducting a survey in mm-wave bands to produce the flux, spectral energy distribution, and light curves for a statistically significant sample of the objects. This data will provide valuable compositional information for the different asteroid classes and types, since the dielectric properties of rocky, metallic, and icy surfaces will be manifested in the fluxes and spectra.

Protoplanetary Science

Protoplanetary disks with radii of hundreds of astronomical units appear to be a common feature of young stars. However, investigating the physical and chemical properties of such disks remains a challenging problem. The LMT can provide the initial studies of many systems that will produce information on the diversity and evolution of disks' properties in nearby star-forming regions. Since any extraterrestrial life similar to that on Earth will be found on Earth-like planets, making these studies important to astrobiology. In addition, the LMT can provide an extensive survey of dust emission from disks around young stellar objects, helping to better understand the timescales over which dust accretes to form planets.

Astrobiology

Investigations of galaxy formation in the early universe will help answer questions of the time scale for the formation and distribution of the heavy chemical elements necessary for life as we know it. The study of galaxies and star formation in the local universe bears on the issue of whether the conditions that led to the origin of life on a planet orbiting a typical star in the Milky Way are likely to be duplicated, in our galaxy or in another. Investigating star formation will shed light on the question of whether the Sun and planets formed as an isolated system or within a cluster of stars which would have subjected the primitive Earth to a much more energetic (and presumably biologically hazardous) environment. The organic chemistry of the interstellar medium is relevant to issues such as the possible distribution of carbon-based life in the Galaxy.

Comets provide a link between the surprisingly complex organic chemistry of both the interstellar medium and bodies forming in primeval solar nebula. Comets and fragments of asteroids were the carriers of water and organic matter to the early Earth, and planetary and satellite atmospheres are clearly fundamental to the issue of whether life has or could emerge on those bodies. The properties of protoplanetary disks around other stars provide key data on the possibility of life elsewhere in our Galaxy.

Radar Astronomy

The LMT would open a new era in radar astronomy. It would be capable of probing the topmost part of the surfaces of terrestrial planets, satellites, and small bodies in the solar syøstem. In addition, radar measurements of Near Earth Objects would provide distance and velocity data vastly more accurate than that available from optical images, a critical consideration for the protection of Earth from potentially impacting asteroids and comets.

Further reading:
Full Article on Current Solar System Research (.pdf)