On February 6, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) hosted a critical review of the NEO Surveyor project. At its conclusion, the NASA Standing Review Board decided that the mission met all technical indicators and requirements. This will allow the project to move to the next stage.
Searching for dangerous asteroids
NEO Surveyor is NASA’s first space mission specifically designed for planetary defense. Its main task will be to search for potentially dangerous space bodies. For this purpose, the vehicle will be equipped with a 50-centimeter telescope-reflector and an infrared camera capable of imaging in the spectral range from 4 to 10 microns.
According to the developers, the telescope will be able to detect up to 90% of near-Earth asteroids with a cross-section of more than 140 meters. An object of that size could cause regional-scale damage if it fell to Earth.
In addition, NEO Surveyor will be utilized to study already known near-Earth objects. The data it collects could be used to find suitable asteroids to which automated missions or even manned expeditions could be sent.
Assembly and tests
Passing critical inspection will allow NEO Surveyor to move on to the next phases of construction and testing. The spacecraft body was recently transported to Johnson Space Center for testing to replicate the conditions of being in a space environment. Once completed, it will be delivered to JPL.
That’s where the mission’s telescope is now located. Once JP’s testing is complete, it will be moved to the Space Dynamics Laboratory where the rest of the subsystems will be integrated and tested. The telescope will then return to JPL again and be connected to the spacecraft.
As of now, NEO Surveyor is scheduled to launch in September 2027. The spacecraft will be brought to the operating position at the L1 Lagrangian point of the Earth-Sun system. It is expected that NEO Surveyor will be able to detect 2/3 of potential hazardous asteroids with diameters greater than 140 years in its first five years of operation. In total, the mission of the telescope is designed for 12 years.
According to NASA
