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NASA is ready to begin work on designing and building a space telescope to search for hard-to-find near-Earth comets and asteroids.
The telescope has passed a technical program review and will now move into the construction phase.
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dangerous objects on Earth
“The mission supports the objectives of NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO) at NASA Headquarters in Washington,” JPL said in a press release Friday.
The Planetary Defense Coordination Office was established in 2016 to document dangerous objects on Earth.
“New Surveyor represents the next generation of NASA’s ability to rapidly detect, track and characterize near-Earth objects,” said Lindley Johnson, NASA planetary defense officer, according to UBI.
The NASA Licensing Act of 2005 required NASA to document 90 percent of NEOs larger than 460 feet in diameter that are within 30 million miles of Earth. Objects of this size could pose a significant threat if they hit the ground.
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Understand the composition of comets and asteroids
The Near-Earth Object Survey will fly one million miles in orbit in a gravitationally stable region between the Sun and Earth known as the Lagrange Point. It is programmed to monitor near-Earth objects under infrared light. The information will also be used to better understand the composition of comets and asteroids.
NEO components, including the radiators that will provide passive cooling for the vehicle, are already under construction.
