NASA to create an asteroid detection telescope
Technology
NASA to create an asteroid detection telescope
(Web Desk) – NASA is all set to begin the creation of The Near-Earth Object Surveyor, a space telescope designed to search for hard-to-find comets and asteroids that approach the Earth’s orbit.
The NEO Surveyor has successfully completed a technical programmatic review and will now enter the construction phase.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory in a press release issued Friday said “The mission supports the objectives of NASA s Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO) at NASA Headquarters in Washington.”
In 2016, the Planetary Defense Coordination Office was established to document objects that pose a threat to Earth.
NASA’s Planetary Defense Officer at PDCO Lindley Johnson, informed that “The NEO Surveyor represents the next generation in NASA’s ability to detect, track, and characterise potentially hazardous near-Earth objects.”
The NASA Authorization Act of 2005 mandated that NASA documents 90% of all near-Earth objects larger than 460 feet in diameter that pass within 30 million miles of Earth. If such objects collide with the Earth, they can pose a significant threat.
The NEO Surveyor will travel a million miles to an orbit in the L1 Lagrange point, a gravitationally stable region between the Sun and the Earth.
To detect near-Earth objects, the NEO Surveyor will use infrared light. The data will also be used to better understand comet and asteroid formation.
The NEO Surveyor’s components, including radiators that will provide passive cooling to the craft, are already being built.
