Jakarta –
NASA planning to build space telescope to detect asteroid potentially harmful to the Earth. The telescope will be named the Near-Earth Object Surveyor or NEO Surveyor.
The telescope will help NASA’s efforts to protect Earth by detecting objects that are pointing too close to Earth. NASA itself classifies asteroids and comets within 48 million km as near-Earth objects (NEOs).
“We estimate there are about 25,000 NEOs large enough to destroy an area like Southern California,” said Amy Mainzer, Principal Investigator of the University of Arizona’s NEO Surveyor. Digital Trends, Monday (14/6/2021).
“Once they are larger than 137 meters in diameter, they can cause severe regional damage. We want to find these objects, and as many smaller ones as possible.”
The NEO Surveyor will be equipped with a heat-sensitive camera so that it can make observations that are more sensitive than existing telescopes on Earth. By looking at infrared data, the telescope will be able to detect objects, track their position and estimate their size.
“Asteroids and comets that approach Earth are warmed by the sun, and they emit heat that can be observed by the NEO Surveyor mission. Even asteroids as dark as chunks of coal cannot hide from our infrared eyes,” explains Manzier.
NASA has approved the NEO Surveyor project to advance to the next stage of development. The telescope is currently in the concept stage, but will move into the design stage where details about the design and instruments will be determined.
If all goes according to plan, the telescope will launch in the first half of 2026. According to NASA’s NEO Surveyor Program Scientist, Michael Kelley, this telescope will be able to protect Earth within 10 years of being in space.
“NEO Surveyor will have the ability to accelerate the rate at which NASA can find asteroids and comets that could harm Earth, and is designed to find 90% of asteroids 140 meters or larger within a decade of launch,” said Kelley.
Watch Videos”NASA Will Bring Asteroids to Earth for Study“
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