A contract has been awarded by NASA to SpaceX for the launch of its Close to-Earth Object (NEO) Surveyor spacecraft, which is meant to determine asteroids and comets that would pose a menace to Earth. The mission is ready to launch no sooner than September 2027 from Florida’s Area Coast utilizing a Falcon 9 rocket. The contract for the launch and associated providers has been valued at roughly $100 million. The spacecraft is anticipated to reinforce planetary protection efforts by detecting and characterizing near-Earth objects that would probably trigger vital harm upon impression. The mission might be operated by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California, with help from varied scientific establishments.
Mission Aims and Capabilities
As per experiences, in accordance with NASA, the NEO Surveyor might be positioned on the Solar-Earth Lagrange Level 1, roughly 1.5 million kilometers from Earth. From this vantage level, the spacecraft will use its 50-centimetre infrared telescope to scan house in two infrared wavelengths. This may permit the detection of each shiny and darkish asteroids, together with these which can be troublesome to look at with current Earth-based telescopes. The aim of the mission is to find not less than two-thirds of undiscovered NEOs measuring 140 meters or extra in diameter, that are massive sufficient to trigger regional devastation in the event that they collide with Earth.
Planetary Protection Efforts and Earlier Missions
The NEO Surveyor mission follows earlier planetary protection initiatives involving SpaceX. In 2021, NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Check (DART) was launched aboard a Falcon 9 rocket, efficiently impacting the asteroid Dimorphos to check the feasibility of altering an asteroid’s trajectory. In 2024, the European Area Company’s Hera mission was additionally launched utilizing a Falcon 9 to check the aftermath of the DART impression on the Didymos system. These missions are a part of ongoing efforts to develop applied sciences able to mitigating potential asteroid threats sooner or later.
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