NASA near-Earth defense telescope retired after more than a decade

NASA near-Earth defense telescope retired after more than a decade
by Simon Druker
Washington DC (UPI) Aug 9, 2024

After more than a decade of tracking asteroids and comets that could pose a threat to Earth, NASA's Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer is now officially shut down.

The space agency sent the final command to the NEOWISE craft Thursday from its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California, ending its so-called planetary defense mission after more than 10 years.

NASA has now downloaded all remaining scientific data from the infrared survey telescope, which is being retired because it will soon drop too low in its orbit around Earth and no longer be able to transmit usable information.

Officials said at the end of July they would finally retire the spacecraft, which was originally launched in December 2009.

At the time, NASA expected the telescope to carry out a seven-month mission, scanning the entire infrared sky as part of the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission.

By July of that year, the craft had surpassed its mission goals, completing its objectives "with far greater sensitivity than previous surveys."

Despite running out of coolant, NASA extended that mission through 2011 before putting it into orbiting hibernation. It was reactivated in 2013 and re-named NEOWISE under the jurisdiction of what is now known as NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office.

The lack of coolant interfered with its infrared capabilities, but the telescope was still able "make precise observations of asteroids and comets that generate a strong infrared signal from being heated by the Sun as they travel past our planet," according to NASA.

"The NEOWISE mission has been instrumental in our quest to map the skies and understand the near-Earth environment. Its huge number of discoveries have expanded our knowledge of asteroids and comets, while also boosting our nation's planetary defense," NASA JPL Director Laurie Leshin said in a statement on the agency's website.

"As we bid farewell to NEOWISE, we also celebrate the team behind it for their impressive achievements."

NASA's quest to defend Earth from future impact threats is continuing. The Near Earth Object (NEO) Surveyor is scheduled to launch in September of 2027.

The new addition is "designed to help advance NASA's planetary defense efforts to discover and characterize most of the potentially hazardous asteroids and comets that come within 30 million miles of Earth's orbit."