NASA’s NEOWISE satellite, which spent over a decade tracking celestial bodies near and far, bid farewell with its final image transmission before entering eternal silence.
The stunning infrared image of the Fornax constellation was captured on August 1 and marks the conclusion of the 26 million plus exposures taken by NEOWISE during over a decade of service. On Thursday, NASA commanded the spacecraft to shut down its transmitter in a final farewell.
Regrettably, within a matter of months, the satellite’s cooling system failed, compromising its ability to shield internal temperatures and thus impacting the proper functioning of its components. Despite the initial setback, the telescope was subsequently tasked with mapping the asteroid belts within our solar system.
In February 2011, NASA placed the Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) into hibernation mode; however, it was reactivated in 2013 and given a new mission: mapping approximately 44,000 objects within our solar system. The spacecraft successfully detected 215 near-Earth objects and identified 25 previously unknown comets. While playing a crucial role alongside, the system made a significant contribution to NASA’s early endeavors to identify potential celestial bodies headed for a catastrophic impact with our planet.
The NEOWISE mission has yielded a remarkable outcome, enabling scientists to gain a deeper understanding of our cosmic surroundings by tracking potentially hazardous asteroids and comets that could impact Earth.
NASA unveiled its new telescope capabilities in December. As solar energy production surged, a corresponding increase in global temperatures led to a rise in atmospheric pressure, resulting in amplified atmospheric drag. As NEOWISE’s orbit decayed, its altitude decreased significantly. As NASA’s NEOWISE spacecraft approached a critical point in its orbit, where it would no longer be able to provide valuable data, the decision was made to conclude the mission. The amount of satellite TV debris in Earth’s atmosphere will rapidly increase.
NASA won’t be without eyes on potentially hazardous objects in space for long. The NASA-funded Close to-Earth Object Surveyor (NEO Surveyor) is set to launch in September 2027.
