<
https://www.nasa.gov/missions/neo-surveyor/work-is-under-way-on-nasas-next-generation-asteroid-hunter/>
"NASA’s new asteroid-hunting spacecraft is taking shape at NASA’s Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. Called NEO Surveyor (Near-Earth
Object Surveyor), this cutting-edge infrared space telescope will seek out the
hardest-to-find asteroids and comets that might pose a hazard to our planet. In
fact, it is the agency’s first space telescope designed specifically for
planetary defense.
Targeting launch in late 2027, the spacecraft will travel a million miles to a
region of gravitational stability — called the L1 Lagrange point — between
Earth and the Sun. From there, its large sunshade will block the glare and heat
of sunlight, allowing the mission to discover and track near-Earth objects as
they approach Earth from the direction of the Sun, which is difficult for other
observatories to do. The space telescope also may reveal asteroids called Earth
Trojans, which lead and trail our planet’s orbit and are difficult to see from
the ground or from Earth orbit.
NEO Surveyor relies on cutting-edge detectors that observe two bands of
infrared light, which is invisible to the human eye. Near-Earth objects, no
matter how dark, glow brightly in infrared as the Sun heats them. Because of
this, the telescope will be able to find dark asteroids and comets, which don’t
reflect much visible light. It also will measure those objects, a challenging
task for visible-light telescopes that have a hard time distinguishing between
small, highly reflective objects and large, dark ones.
“NEO Surveyor is optimized to help us to do one specific thing: enable humanity
to find the most hazardous asteroids and comets far enough in advance so we can
do something about them,” said Amy Mainzer, survey director for NEO Surveyor
and a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. “We aim to build
a spacecraft that can find, track, and characterize the objects with the
greatest chance of hitting Earth. In the process, we will learn a lot about
their origins and evolution.”"
Via
Fix the News:
https://fixthenews.com/the-three-sisters/
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
