Simulated predictions from a mid-2025 study suggest Rubin could uncover roughly 5 million new main-belt asteroids, about 40,000 trans-Neptunian objects, over 10,000 comets, and more than a tripling of near-Earth asteroids, though these figures come with model-based uncertainties.

However, results are not guaranteed to meet forecast numbers and depend on population distributions, actual survey cadence, efficiency, and detection pipeline performance, even as the potential scale of unseen objects remains vast.

The survey will bolster planetary defense by improving near-Earth object detection in the 100-meter to 1-kilometer range, though it won’t replace targeted follow-up, spectroscopy, or radar work needed to determine physical properties.

The upcoming milestones include the formal start of the LSST survey and the release of Data Release 1, with Data Preview 2 results expected to verify simulation predictions.

In early operations as of May 2026, Data Preview 1 has been released and Data Preview 2 is planned for mid-2026, with the formal survey start date still to be announced after a shift from earlier targets.

The Rubin Observatory is nearing the start of the ten-year Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST), using an 8.4-meter telescope and a 3.2-gigapixel camera to continuously image the southern sky and create a time-lapse record that will expand discovery of solar system objects.

Rubin’s design—deep, fast cadences, six filters, and repeated sky coverage—enables detection of small, dim, fast-moving objects and provides color information for all detected solar system bodies.