Searching for Asteroids: NASA Spacecraft Gets Back in the Game

NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) spacecraft was placed into hibernation for a time after helping astronomers discover and identify tens of thousands of asteroids throughout the solar system.

This month the agency is reactivating the “asteroid hunter” for a three year mission to identify the population of potentially hazardous near-Earth objects, as well as those suitable for asteroid exploration missions.

Near-Earth objects (NEOs) are asteroids that can be found orbiting within 28 million miles from Earth’s orbit of the Sun. Perhaps the most concerning group of space rocks, the identification of these NEO’s will be greatly enhanced by WISE.

“The WISE mission achieved its mission’s goals and as NEOWISE extended the science even further in its survey of asteroids. NASA is now extending that record of success, which will enhance our ability to find potentially hazardous asteroids, and support the new asteroid initiative,” said John Grunsfeld, NASA’s associate administrator for science in Washington. “Reactivating WISE is an excellent example of how we are leveraging existing capabilities across the agency to achieve our goal.”

Using its 16-inch telescope and infrared cameras, the WISE spacecraft will help NASA with its recently announced asteroid initiative, which has a goal to identify, capture and relocate an asteroid.

According to NASA, “The asteroid initiative brings together the best of NASA’s science, technology and human exploration efforts to achieve President Obama’s goal of sending humans to an asteroid by 2025.” This endeavor “represents an unprecedented technological feat that will lead to new scientific discoveries and technological capabilities that will help protect our home planet.”