We are pleased to announce the release of Meerkat Asteroid Guard version 2.0, an important update that enhances performance, introduces new analytical features, and modernizes the system architecture. Meerkat is ESA’s imminent impactors automatic monitoring system, which makes use of the information provided by the MPC in its NEO Confirmation Page.

Main implementations:

• Integration with ESA's GODOT flight dynamics library. All astrodynamics computations are now performed using ESA's GODOT library, with several optimizations that have reduced computation time by approximately 10%.
• New analytical features for observers and analysts have been added to the alert emails sent by Meerkat:
  • Impact velocity and impact flight path angle.
  • Time of entry into Earth's shadow.
  • Standard deviation of grid RMS error values (parameter ‘RMS std’ in Meerkat emails). This metric measures the flatness of the grid fitting contours. A high value suggests that systematic ranging has likely found a good solution, while a low value indicates little variation in the grid and a potentially unreliable result. Low values may occasionally lead to false positives with high impact scores.
  • Display of current computation time in the Dashboard plot. A new blue line has been added to the Dashboard plot, showing the current computation time. If all impacting solutions lie before this line, it means that the object has lower priority, as it is already too late to observe it (see Figure).
• Faster and more reliable data ingestion. Data is now retrieved directly from ESA's replica of the Minor Planet Center Postgres database, improving speed and reliability. A new prioritization queue also gives higher priority to objects with greater impact probability.
• Meerkat now runs on Python 3.11, ensuring long-term stability and compatibility with the latest scientific libraries.
• Modernized infrastructure. Meerkat now features a fully dockerized architecture, with deployment managed through a CI/CD development pipeline to ensure smoother updates and easier maintenance.

Meerkat sends alerts to the astronomical community through mailing lists maintained by the ESA NEO Coordination Centre (NEOCC). The Meerkat mailing list is open only to individuals directly involved in the NEO field, and three distinct lists are available. The first list is intended for observers; it operates with lower thresholds and includes close-approach results. The second list is tailored for individuals involved in mitigation activities, and emails are sent only when Meerkat identifies a notable object with a higher impact score. The third list targets individuals engaged in fireball detection activities; in this case, emails are issued for all objects detected by Meerkat with a very high impact score. Subscription requests can be sent directly to the NEOCC at neocc@esa.int. Requesters who do not meet the eligibility requirements are redirected to the NEOCC web portal, where a dedicated page about imminent impactors is now operational.

Example of Dashboard plot with the new blue line for the computation time. Credit ESA / PDO.