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The mirrors for NASA\u2019s Near-Earth Object Surveyor space telescope are being installed and aligned, and work on other spacecraft components is accelerating.<\/em><\/p>\n NASA\u2019s new asteroid-hunting spacecraft is taking shape at NASA\u2019s 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\u2019s first space telescope designed specifically for planetary defense.<\/p>\n Targeting launch in late 2027, the spacecraft will travel a million miles to a region of gravitational stability \u2014 called the L1 Lagrange point \u2014 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\u2019s orbit and are difficult to see from the ground or from Earth orbit.<\/p>\n 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\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n \u201cNEO 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,\u201d said Amy Mainzer, principal investigator for NEO Surveyor and a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. \u201cWe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n The spacecraft\u2019s only instrument is its telescope. About the size of a washer-and-dryer set, the telescope\u2019s blocky aluminum body, called the optical bench, was built in a JPL clean room. Known as a three-mirror anastigmat telescope, it will rely on curved mirrors to focus light onto its infrared detectors in such a way that minimizes optical aberrations.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have been carefully managing the fabrication of the spacecraft\u2019s telescope mirrors, all of which were received in the JPL clean room by July,\u201d said Brian Monacelli, principal optical engineer at JPL. \u201cIts mirrors were shaped and polished from solid aluminum using a diamond-turning machine. Each exceeds the mission\u2019s performance requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n Monacelli inspected the mirror surfaces for debris and damage, then JPL\u2019s team of optomechanical technicians and engineers attached the mirrors to the telescope\u2019s optical bench in August. Next, they will measure the telescope\u2019s performance and align its mirrors.<\/p>\n Complementing the mirror assembly are the telescope\u2019s mercury-cadmium-telluride detectors, which are similar to the detectors used by NASA\u2019s recently retired NEOWISE (short for Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) mission. An advantage of these detectors is that they don\u2019t necessarily require cryogenic coolers or cryogens to lower their operational temperatures in order to detect infrared wavelengths. Cryocoolers and cryogens can limit the lifespan of a spacecraft. NEO Surveyor will instead keep its cool by using its large sunshade to block sunlight from heating the telescope and by occupying an orbit beyond that of the Moon, minimizing heating from Earth.<\/p>\n The telescope will eventually be installed inside the spacecraft\u2019s instrument enclosure, which is being assembled in JPL\u2019s historic High Bay 1 clean room where NASA missions such as Voyager, Cassini, and Perseverance were constructed. Fabricated from dark composite material that allows heat to escape, the enclosure will help keep the telescope cool and prevent its own heat from obscuring observations.<\/p>\n Once it is completed in coming weeks, the enclosure will be tested to make sure it can withstand the rigors of space exploration. Then it will be mounted on the back of the sunshade and atop the electronic systems that will power and control the spacecraft.<\/p>\n \u201cThe entire team has been working hard for a long time to get to this point, and we are excited to see the hardware coming together with contributions from our institutional and industrial collaborators from across the country,\u201d said Tom Hoffman, NEO Surveyor\u2019s project manager at JPL. \u201cFrom the panels and cables for the instrument enclosure to the detectors and mirrors for the telescope \u2014 as well as components to build the spacecraft \u2014 hardware is being fabricated, delivered, and assembled to build this incredible observatory.\u201d<\/p>\n Assembly of NEO Surveyor can be viewed 24 hours a day, seven days a week, via JPL\u2019s live cam.<\/p>\n The NEO Surveyor mission marks a major step for NASA toward reaching its U.S. Congress-mandated goal to discover and characterize at least 90% of the near-Earth objects more than 460 feet (140 meters) across that come within 30 million miles (48 million kilometers) of our planet\u2019s orbit. Objects of this size can cause significant regional damage, or worse, should they impact the Earth.<\/p>\n The mission is tasked by NASA\u2019s Planetary Science Division within the Science Mission Directorate; program oversight is provided by the Planetary Defense Coordination Office, which was established in 2016 to manage the agency\u2019s ongoing efforts in planetary defense. NASA\u2019s Planetary Missions Program Office at the agency\u2019s Marshall Space Flight Center provides program management for NEO Surveyor.<\/p>\n The project is being developed by JPL and is led by principal investigator Amy Mainzer at UCLA. Established aerospace and engineering companies have been contracted to build the spacecraft and its instrumentation, including BAE Systems, Space Dynamics Laboratory, and Teledyne. The Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado, Boulder will support operations, and IPAC-Caltech in Pasadena, California, is responsible for processing survey data and producing the mission\u2019s data products. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.<\/p>\n More information about NEO Surveyor is available at:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Ian J. O\u2019Neill Karen Fox \/ Alana Johnson 2024-114<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-2649
ian.j.oneill@jpl.nasa.gov<\/p>\n
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600 \/ 202-358-1501
karen.c.fox@nasa.gov \/\u00a0alana.r.johnson@nasa.gov<\/p>\n