Produced by: Tarun Mishra Designed by: Manoj Kumar
NASA's NEOWISE mission, operational since 2011, was officially shut down on August 8, 2023. The mission detected over 3,000 near-Earth objects (NEOs), which include asteroids and comets that could potentially collide with Earth.
NEOWISE played a significant role in planetary defence, identifying more than 200 previously unknown NEOs. Monitoring these objects is essential for understanding and mitigating potential risks to Earth from asteroid impacts.
Originally launched as WISE (Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) to study distant galaxies, the mission evolved into NEOWISE after NASA extended its use to detect NEOs by capturing their infrared radiation, which is strong when close to Earth and the sun.
NEOWISE contributed to a foundational understanding of NEOs, informing future planetary defense efforts. Its observations helped establish the groundwork for NASA’s upcoming NEO Surveyor mission.
Scheduled for a 2027 launch, NASA's NEO Surveyor mission aims to discover two-thirds of all NEOs larger than 140 meters over a five-year period. This will help fulfil NASA's mandate to identify 90% of NEOs in this size range.
The shutdown of NEOWISE leaves a potential gap in asteroid detection until the launch of NEO Surveyor. However, NASA estimates the risk of a significant asteroid impact during this gap to be low, with such impacts occurring roughly every 20,000 years.
NEOWISE's end was influenced by the sun’s increasing activity, which thickened Earth's ionosphere and caused the spacecraft's orbit to degrade. NASA had little choice but to let the mission end, as the spacecraft could not raise its orbit.
The upcoming NEO Surveyor mission and the DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) mission, which demonstrated the ability to alter asteroid trajectories, are key to future planetary defence strategies. Data from NEOWISE will remain a critical resource for ongoing research and mitigation efforts.
Credit : NASA