Planetary Society STEP Grant 2021:
Demystifying Near-Earth Asteroids
(D-NEAs)
Principal Investigator: Dr Bojan Novakovic
Dr. Bojan Novakovic is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Astronomy at the University of Belgrade and the Planetary Science Research Group leader. He holds a PhD in Astronomy from the University of Belgrade.
He published about 50 peer-reviewed journal papers and over 100 publications in total. His research interest focuses on small solar system objects and, in particular, on collisionally formed asteroid families and covers a wide range of related studies. For his contribution in the field of asteroid research, the asteroid ”11805 (1981 EL13)” has been renamed ”Novakovic” by the IAU Minor Planet Center.
Dr. Novakovic is one of the founders and managing editor of the Asteroid Families Portal, an online service to search for information and analyze collisional asteroid families. He was/is the supervisor of three completed and one ongoing PhD thesis.
Areas of expertise: Small Solar System Objects, Physical and Dynamical Characterization of Asteroids, Collisional Asteroid Families, Main Belt Comets, Dynamical Stability of Planetary Systems
Co-Investigator: Dr Marco Fenucci
Dr. Marco Fenucci is a mathematician at the Near-Earth Objects Coordination Centre (NEOCC) of the European Space Agency (ESA). He holds a PhD in Applied Mathematics obtained at the University of Pisa, Italy.
From November 2019 to September 2022 he was an Early Stage Researcher at the Department of Astronomy of the University of Belgrade, within the European H2020 project Stardust-Reloaded. His research focuses on Near-Earth Asteroids (NEAs), covering interdisciplinary areas in between planetary science, astronomy and mathematics. The major goals of his work are to provide a better understanding of global properties of the NEAs population, and to accurately determine the probabilities of impact of these objects with the Earth. He is also interested in the determination of suitable asteroid targets for future space exploration missions.
Areas of expertise: Orbit Determination, Physical and Dynamical Characterization of Asteroids, Numerical Methods
Co-Investigator: Dr Dusan Marceta
Dr. Dusan Marceta is an assistant professor at the Department of Astronomy, Faculty of Mathematics, University of Belgrade. He graduated from the Department of Aerospace Engineering, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Belgrade. He received his PhD in astronomy, where he explored flight trajectories of space capsules in Martian atmosphere and their dependence on various astronomical phenomena. He is a leader of the group working on the development of the first Serbian scientific CubeSat, which aims to observe the Sun and the Earth from the low Earth orbit, as well as to improve the aerodynamic characterization of CubeSats.
Areas of expertise: Orbital dynamics, Near-Earth Asteroids, Interstellar Asteroids and Comets.
Student Investigator: Debora Pavela
Debora Pavela is an undergraduate student of Astrophysics at the Department of Astronomy of the University of Belgrade. She is interested in Planetary Science already from high school, especially meteoritics. Debora has already been involved in research programs and published two journal papers. In recognition of her research work, she received an award from the University of Belgrade for the best student research work in natural and mathematical sciences for the year 2021.
Research Interests: Small Solar System Objects, Meteoroids, Asteroid Families, Photometry of Asteroids and Comets
Funded by
