SPACEWATCH® Discovers an Asteroid Easily Accessible to Spacecraft

Oct. 10, 2016

2016 October: Scotti, J. V., and R. S. McMillan.  2016.  Discovery and Followup Observations of Small, Low Delta-V Apollo Asteroid.  "Low Delta-V" means that a spacecraft would not need a large velocity impulse to visit this asteroid.  This is because its orbit plane is nearly aligned with that of Earth, its orbital semimajor axis is similar to that of Earth, and its orbit  is nearly circular.  And unlike some small asteroids, this one, as of 2017 September, is not considered lost. 
MPEC T88: 2016 TB18 [a=1.08,e=0.08,i=1.5,H=25.2] M.P.E.C. 2016-T88            Issued 2016 Oct.  9, 11:43 UT
MPEC 2016-T88 : 2016 TB18 Minor Planet 2016 TB18 Discovered