NASA’s Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) has sent its final image, marking the end of a 10-year mission searching for and monitoring potential threats to Earth. The mission began as WISE in December 2009, scanning the entire sky in infrared with unprecedented sensitivity. Although the coolant ran out after seven months, NEOWISE was still operational and capable of observing strong infrared signals from asteroids and comets.
In its new mission starting in 2013, NEOWISE made over 1.45 million infrared measurements of more than 44,000 objects within our Solar System. It detected over 3,000 near-Earth objects, with 215 being first spotted by the telescope. The mission’s success has helped scientists better understand our place in the universe and track hazardous asteroids and comets.
As NEOWISE reaches the end of its journey, NASA is preparing to launch its successor, NEO Surveyor, sometime after 2027. The increased activity of the Sun as we move through the peak of its 11-year cycle has made it necessary to shut down the transmitter and allow the spacecraft to slowly spiral back to Earth, where it will burn up in the atmosphere by the latter part of 2024.
Source: https://www.iflscience.com/nasas-planetary-defense-telescope-sends-back-final-image-before-shutting-down-75566