A press release today by the University of Arizona reports on the proposed
NEO Surveyor spacecraft.
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Originally Posted by University of Arizona
The University of Arizona is spearheading work that would begin efforts to construct a space-based infrared telescope that could provide the capabilities NASA needs to search for asteroids and comets that pose impact hazards to Earth, called near-Earth objects, or NEOs.
Professor Amy Mainzer of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona will provide technical leadership for the projected mission, to be in partnership with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The Near-Earth Object Surveillance Mission, or NEOSM, consists of a spacecraft, to be called the NEO Surveyor, that would continuously collect infrared images of near-Earth space, and the investigation team which will process, analyze and archive the data from it.
The spacecraft will use highly sensitive heat-sensing cameras to detect the infrared glow from asteroids and comets that are warmed by the sun as they get close to the orbit of Earth. Searching for asteroids by sensing their heat emission allows astronomers to not only detect their position and movement in space, but also measure their sizes and identify even the darkest asteroids that may have primitive, carbon-rich surfaces.
“This mission would answer a fundamental question: Are there asteroids or comets out there that can cause harm to the Earth over the next century?” said Mainzer, who also leads NASA’s Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or NEOWISE, mission that uses an older spacecraft reactivated to hunt for NEOs after it completed its original mission. The NEO Surveyor builds on the success of the NEOWISE mission, which is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its launch on Saturday, December 14, 2019.
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Full press release here :-
https://uanews.arizona.edu/story/uar...pace-telescope