NASA's NEOWISE spacecraft opened its "eyes"
after more than two years of slumber to see the starry sky. Image
credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech. Full image and caption
This is one of the first images captured by
the revived NEOWISE mission, after more than two years of hibernation.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech. Full image and caption - enlarge image
Probe Will Assist Agency in Search for Candidates to Explore
NASA's Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE), a
spacecraft that made the most comprehensive survey to date of asteroids
and comets, has returned its first set of test images in preparation
for a renewed mission.
NEOWISE discovered more than 34,000 asteroids and characterized 158,000
throughout the solar system during its prime mission in 2010 and early
2011. It was reactivated in September following 31 months in
hibernation, to assist NASA's efforts to identify the population of
potentially hazardous near-Earth objects (NEOs). NEOWISE also can assist
in characterizing previously detected asteroids that could be
considered potential targets for future exploration missions.
"NEOWISE not only gives us a better understanding of the asteroids and
comets we study directly, but it will help us refine our concepts and
mission operation plans for future, space-based near-Earth object
cataloging missions," said Amy Mainzer, principal investigator for
NEOWISE at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "The
spacecraft is in excellent health, and the new images look just as good
as they were before hibernation. Over the next weeks and months we will
be gearing up our ground-based data processing and expect to get back
into the asteroid hunting business, and acquire our first previously
undiscovered space rock, in the next few months."
Some of the deep-space images taken by the spacecraft include a
previously detected asteroid named (872) Holda. With a diameter of 26
miles (42 kilometers), this asteroid orbits the sun between Mars and
Jupiter in a region astronomers call the asteroid belt. The images tell
researchers the quality of the spacecraft's observations is the same as
during its primary mission.
The spacecraft uses a 16-inch (40-centimeter) telescope and infrared
cameras to seek out and discover unknown NEOs and characterize their
size, albedo or reflectivity, and thermal properties. Asteroids reflect,
but do not emit visible light, so data collected with optical
telescopes using visible light can be deceiving.
Infrared sensors, similar to the cameras on NEOWISE, are a powerful tool
for discovering, cataloging and understanding the asteroid population.
Some of the objects about which NEOWISE will be collecting data could
become candidates for the agency's announced asteroid initiative.
NASA's initiative will be the first mission to identify, capture and
relocate an asteroid. It represents an unprecedented technological feat
that will lead to new scientific discoveries and technological
capabilities that will help protect our home planet. 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.
"It is important that we accumulate as much of this type of data as
possible while the spacecraft remains a viable asset," said Lindley
Johnson, NASA's NEOWISE program executive in Washington. "NEOWISE is an
important element to enhance our ability to support the initiative."
NEOWISE began as WISE. The prime mission, which was launched in December
2009, was to scan the entire celestial sky in infrared light. WISE
captured more than 2.7 million images in multiple infrared wavelengths
and cataloged more than 747 million objects in space, ranging from
galaxies faraway to asteroids and comets much closer to Earth. NASA
turned off most of WISE's electronics when it completed its primary
mission in February 2011.
Upon reactivation, the spacecraft was renamed NEOWISE, with the goal of
discovering and characterizing asteroids and comets whose orbits
approach within 28 million miles (45 million kilometers) from Earth's
path around the sun.
More information about NEOWISE is available online at:
http://www.nasa.gov/wise
For more information on the asteroid initiative, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/asteroidinitiative
JPL manages the project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in
Washington. The Space Dynamics Laboratory in Logan, Utah, built the
science instrument. Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. of Boulder,
Colo., built the spacecraft. Science operations and data processing take
place at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at the California
Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.
DC Agle 818-393-9011
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
agle@jpl.nasa.gov
Dwayne Brown 202-358-1726
NASA Headquarters, Washington
Dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov
