NASA’s NEOWISE (Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) mission, a 14-year space mission dedicated to asteroid-hunting, is coming to an end on July 31. This mission has been crucial in helping NASA develop and operate the next-generation infrared space telescope, NEO Surveyor, which will launch in late 2027. The end of the NEOWISE mission is prompted by the approaching solar maximum, which causes increased solar activity that heats Earth’s atmosphere and creates more drag on satellites like NEOWISE. As a result, the spacecraft will not be able to maintain its orbit and will ultimately burn up in Earth’s atmosphere in late 2024 or early 2025.
NEOWISE, initially launched as the WISE (Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) mission in 2009, has far exceeded its scientific objectives by scanning the entire infrared sky. Over the past 14 years, NEOWISE has made 1.45 million infrared measurements of over 44,000 objects in the solar system and has discovered 215 NEOs. The data collected by NEOWISE will be invaluable to the scientific community for years to come.
The successor to the NEOWISE mission, NEO Surveyor, is currently in development and is expected to launch in September 2027. This new telescope will be dedicated to seeking out asteroids and comets that pose a threat to Earth, providing crucial information for planetary defense efforts. The work done by NEOWISE has laid the foundation for future infrared survey missions and has built a knowledge base that will inform future space exploration endeavors.
Overall, the end of the NEOWISE mission marks the conclusion of a successful 14-year effort to identify and track near-Earth objects. The data collected by NEOWISE has been instrumental in advancing our understanding of the solar system and will continue to shape our future exploration of space.
