NASA specialists are actively working on space exploration also in order to track potentially dangerous space objects that can crash into the Earth, and not just for the sake of searching for extraterrestrial civilizations and habitable planets. And today, January 12, the information publication Space officially announced that NASA has launched the process of developing a new space infrared telescope called NEO Surveyor, which is created specifically for the “hunt” for asteroids dangerous for the Earth. And although so far mankind cannot do anything with such space objects, the rule “Forewarned is forearmed” has not been canceled.
“NEO Surveyor represents the next generation of NASA’s capabilities to rapidly detect, track and characterize potentially hazardous near-Earth objects,” Lindley Johnson, Planetary Defense Officer, NASA Planetary Defense Coordination Bureau, said in a statement.
At the moment, NASA specialists are still operating a mission to search for near-Earth objects called NEOWISE, and NEO Surveyor should become a direct successor to the program, only with a larger set of functions and capabilities. Experts note that when the NEO Surveyor space telescope is launched, it will be able to carry out a mission to search for several near-Earth asteroids at once. For example, the system of the apparatus will allow tracking the movements of many asteroids and comets, which in theory have a chance to pass at a close distance from the Earth. Moreover, thanks to advanced technology and fine tuning, NEO Surveyor will be able to track even fairly small space bodies that were previously almost impossible to determine.
The most important instrument of NEO Surveyor is a system of ultra-sensitive infrared detectors that will find even very distant small-diameter asteroids in space due to their ability to reflect infrared light. The problem is that ground-based telescopes cannot perform a similar function because the Earth’s atmosphere blocks too much infrared light, so the accuracy of studies in this direction is extremely low. While in low Earth orbit, NEO Surveyor will be able to level this problem and get a noticeable advantage – a special sunscreen is included in its design, which will block excess sunlight.
The launch of NEO Surveyor is scheduled for June 2028.
Source: Trash Box

Charles Grill is a tech-savvy writer with over 3 years of experience in the field. He writes on a variety of technology-related topics and has a strong focus on the latest advancements in the industry. He is connected with several online news websites and is currently contributing to a technology-focused platform.