NASA's NEO Surveyor Aims to Spot Potentially Dangerous Near-Earth Objects Before They're a Problem
Designed to scan for large NEOs in infrared, NEO Surveyor is the first space telescope built specifically to keep the planet safe.
NASA's NEO Surveyor, the world's first space telescope purpose-built for finding and tracking potentially dangerous near-Earth objects (NEOs), has passed its technical review — bringing it a step closer to production and deployment to help protect the planet.
"NEO Surveyor represents the next generation for NASA's ability to quickly detect, track, and characterize potentially hazardous near-Earth objects," explains Lindley Johnson, NASA’s planetary defense officer at the organization's Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO). "Ground-based telescopes remain essential for us to continually watch the skies, but a space-based infrared observatory is the ultimate high ground that will enable NASA’s planetary defense strategy."
Designed to help NASA with its mission of discovering and characterizing at least 90 per cent of the near-Earth objects greater than 430 feet across and coming within 30 million miles of the planet's orbit, NEO Surveyor looks at the skies in shades of infrared through a 20-inch aperture. A pair of detectors monitor two key infrared bands in which it should be able to see dark asteroids and comets that are invisible to traditional telescopes. as well as those normally hidden by the glare of the sun.
"For the first time in our planet's history, Earth’s inhabitants are developing methods to protect Earth by deflecting hazardous asteroids," says survey director Amy Mainzer. "But before we can deflect them, we first need to find them. NEO Surveyor will be a game-changer in that effort."
The satellite's design has recently passed a key technical review milestone, with development of key instrumentation already well in-hand. “The project team, including all of our institutional and industrial collaborators, is already very busy designing and fabricating components that will ultimately become flight hardware," claims project manager Tom Hoffman. "As the mission enters this new phase, we’re excited to be working on this unique space telescope and are already looking forward to our launch and the start of our important mission."
When complete and tested, with a target of June 2028, NEO Surveyor will be launched in the L1 Lagrange point one million miles away from our planet, where it will settle into its orbit for a five-year primary mission period.
More information is available on the NASA website.
Main article image courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona.
