The known near-Earth object (NEO) population consists of over 32,000 objects,
with a yearly discovery rate of over 3000 NEOs per year. An essential component
of the next generation of NEO surveys is an understanding of the population of
known objects, including an accounting of the discovery rate per year as a
function of size. Using a near-Earth asteroid (NEA) reference model developed
for NASA's NEO Surveyor (NEOS) mission and a model of the major current and
historical ground-based surveys, an estimate of the current NEA survey
completeness as a function of size and absolute magnitude has been determined
(termed the Known Object Model; KOM). This allows for understanding of the
intersection of the known catalog of NEAs and the objects expected to be
observed by NEOS. The current NEA population is found to be ∼38% complete
for objects larger than 140m, consistent with estimates by Harris & Chodas
(2021). NEOS is expected to catalog more than two thirds of the NEAs larger
than 140m, resulting in ∼76% of NEAs cataloged at the end of its 5 year
nominal survey (Mainzer et al, 2023}, making significant progress towards the
US Congressional mandate. The KOM estimates that ∼77% of the currently
cataloged objects will be detected by NEOS, with those not detected
contributing ∼9% to the final completeness at the end its 5 year mission.
This model allows for placing the NEO Surveyor mission in the context of
current surveys to more completely assess the progress toward the goal of
cataloging the population of hazardous asteroids.Comment: 27 pages, 18 figures, 3 tables. Accepted for publication in Planetary
Science Journal (PSJ