NEOWISE, the NASA mission that cataloged objects around Earth for over a decade, has come to an end

The Nasa Newise project, which gave astronomers a detailed look at the things close to the Earth-which can hit some of them on the ground-ended its mission and burned when re-inserting the atmosphere after more than a decade.

On a clear night, the sky is full of bright bodies – from stars, large planets and galaxies to small asteroids that fly near the Earth. These asteroids are usually known as Objects close to the groundAnd it comes in a wide range of sizes. Some of them tens of kilometers across or larger, while others are not intended for only dozens or smaller.

Sometimes, things close to the earth are destroyed High at high – about 10 miles per second (16 km per second) or faster. This is about 15 times the speed of a gun muzzle. The effect on this speed can easily destroy the surface of the planet and anything on it.

The effects of large objects close to Earth are generally rare over a typical human life. But it is more frequent on the geological time scale of millions to billions of years. The best example of the width may be 6 miles (10 kilometers) of the asteroid About 65 million years ago.

The smaller effects are common on Earth, where there are more small things close to the ground. An international community effort called Planetary defense Humans protect from these infiltrators through indexing and monitoring the largest possible number of things close to Earth, including those who closely approach Earth. Researchers call things close to Earth It can collide With the surface Possible dangerous creatures.

The neowise mission began its operations in 2010 as part of Infrared scanning explorer on a large scale, wise, important. The investigation of things near the ground, such as asteroids and comets, continued, even after its refrigerated liquid-to February 2011.

Newise contributed to the planetary defense efforts by researching the classification of things close to the ground. Over the past decade, this helped Planetary defenders Like us Our colleagues study things close to the ground.

Discovering things close to the ground

Neowise was the task of changing the game, as it revolutionized how things near the ground were wiped.

Newise mission Continue using the spacecraft from NASA’s wise missionWhich lasted from late 2009 to 2011 and conducted Infrared inherent survey To discover not only the organisms close to the ground but also distant creatures like galaxies.

A spacecraft revolving around the Earth from north to south, passing over the poles, and it was in The coincided orbitWhere you can see the sun in the same direction over time. This position allowed to wipe all the sky efficiently.

The spacecraft can delete astronomical objects and planets by discovering the signatures that emit in the mid -infrared range.

Human eyes can Visible senseIt is the electromagnetic radiation between 400 and 700 nm. When we look at the stars in the sky with the naked eye, we see their light visible ingredients.

but, Infrared mid -radiation light It contains waves ranging from 3 and 30 micrometers and are not visible to human eyes.

When heated, an object stores heating thermal energy. Unless the object is thermal isolated, it constantly releases this energy as electromagnetic energy, in the infrared range.

This process, known as the name Thermal emissionIt occurs to the organisms near the Earth after the sun is heated. Smaller than the asteroid, and thermal emission. The Neowise spacecraft can feel thermal emissions from the objects close to Earth at a high level of allergies-which means that it can discover small asteroids.

But asteroids are not the only creatures that emit heat. The spacecraft sensors can capture heat emissions from other sources as well – including the same spacecraft.

To ensure that the heat of the spacecraft was not hindering the research, the wise spacecraft/Neowise was designed so that it can be active in an active way using the advanced state at the time Solid hydrogen cooling systems.

The stages of the process

Since the spacecraft equipment needs to be very sensitive to discovering the wise things, it uses solid hydrogen, which is very cool, to cool itself and avoid any noise that can be tampered with the sensitivity of the tools. Ultimately, the coolant ran out, but not even Wise successfully completed its scientific goals.

During the refrigerated stage When it was actively cooling itself, the spacecraft operates at a temperature of about 447 degrees Fahrenheit (-266 ° C), slightly higher than the temperature of the universe, which is about -454 degrees Fahrenheit (-270 ° C).

The refrigerated stage lasted from 2009 to 2011, until the spacecraft entered the hibernation in 2011.

After the hibernation period, NASA decided to reactivate the wise spacecraft under the Neoise mission, with a more specialized focus on discovering things close to Earth, which was still possible even without cooled cooling.

During this The activation stageThe detectors did not need to be completely sensitive, and the spacecraft did not remain cold as it was during the refrigerated cooling stage, because the organisms near the Earth are closer to the goals of Wayes.

The result of the loss of active cooling was that two of the long wave detection among the four on the plane became so hot that they could no longer work, which limits the capacity of the craft.

However, Neowise used two operating detectors to constantly monitor both recently discovered near Earth Objects in detail.

New Zere

As of February 2024Neowise took more than 1.5 million infrared measurements for about 44,000 different objects in the solar system. This included about 1,600 discoveries of the organisms near the Earth. Neowise has also provided detailed estimates of more than 1,800 organisms close to Earth.

Despite the task contributions to the scientific defense and planets, it was stopped in August 2024. The spacecraft eventually began to fall towards the surface of the Earth, until it reinforced the Earth’s atmosphere and burned on November 1, 2024.

Newise contributions to searching for things close to the earth gave scientists much deeper visions in asteroids around the earth. It also gave scientists a better idea of ​​the challenges that they will need to overcome to reveal the low things.

So, did Neoise found all things close to Earth? The answer is no. Most scientists still believe that there are much more things than the earth there still need to be determined, especially those younger.

To continue the legacy of Neowise, NASA plans for a task called New surveyor. New surveyor The space telescope of the next generation can study small asteroids close to Earth in more detail, as a basis for contributing to NASA’s planetary defense efforts. Hundreds of thousands of things close to the ground that reach about 33 feet (10 meters) will be determined. The 2027 spacecraft is to be launched.

This article was updated on February 7, 2024, to clarify the first year of the Neoise mission.

This article has been republished from ConversationAn independent, non -profit news organization brings you facts and trusted analysis to help you understand our complex world. Written by: Tushi Herabayachiand Georgia Institute of Technology and Yayj Kimand Maryland University

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Toshi Hirabayashi is part of many planetary mission teams with NASA, ESA and Jaxa through the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Yaeji Kim does not work for shares, consulting, or receiving them from any company or institution that will benefit from this article, and has not revealed any related affiliations that exceed its academic appointment.