NASA has awarded Elon Musk-backed SpaceX a $100 million contract to launch its Near-Earth Object (NEO) Surveyor spacecraft, designed to monitor extraterrestrial threats to the Earth. The mission aims to give advanced warnings of asteroids that could pose a threat to our planet.
The NEO Surveyor will be launched on a Falcon 9 rocket from Florida’s Space Coast in September 2027 and will scan space for potentially threatening asteroids. SpaceX will transport the craft to a point about 930,000 miles away from Earth, where it will use telescopes to spot asteroids using two infrared wavelengths.
NASA constructed the NEO Surveyor but will not operate or maintain it, with the costs of these services falling on another agency. The spacecraft’s construction and operation costs are separate from the $100 million contract awarded to SpaceX for launch services.
The program is part of NASA’s planetary defense system, which aims to detect and track asteroids that could potentially hit Earth. The NEO Surveyor will work alongside other telescopes, including the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, launched in 2027, and the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope currently under construction in Chile.
While there is no timeline for when the probe will begin scanning for threats once it’s in space, NASA hopes that SpaceX’s expertise will ensure a successful launch.
Source: https://www.jalopnik.com/1798966/nasa-awards-spacex-100-million-contract-launch-asteroid-hunting-telescope