An infrared sensor crucial for NASA’s future detecting and tracking of asteroids and comets has passed a critical design test.
The test assessed performance of the Near Earth Object Camera (NEOCam) in an environment that mimicked the temperatures and pressures of deep space.
NEOCam is the cornerstone instrument for a proposed new space-based asteroid-hunting telescope, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) said in a statement.
Details of the sensor’s design and capabilities are published in the Journal of Optical Engineering.
The sensor could be a vital component to inform plans for the agency’s recently announced initiative to develop the first-ever mission to identify, capture and relocate an asteroid closer to Earth for future exploration by astronauts.
“This sensor represents one of many investments made by NASA’s Discovery Program and its Astrophysics Research and Analysis Program in innovative technologies to significantly improve future missions designed to protect Earth from potentially hazardous asteroids,” said Lindley Johnson, program executive for NASA’s Near-Earth Object Program Office.
Depending on how reflective an object is, a small, light-coloured space rock can look the same as a big dark one. As a result, data collected with optical telescopes using visible light can be deceiving.
“Infrared sensors are a powerful tool for discovering, cataloguing and understanding the asteroid population,” said Amy Mainzer, co-author of the paper and principal investigator for NASA’s Near-Earth Object Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) mission.
“When you observe a space rock with infrared, you are seeing its thermal emissions, which can better define the asteroid’s size, as well as tell you something about composition,” Mainzer said.
The NEOCam sensor is designed to be more reliable and significantly lighter in weight for launching aboard space-based telescopes.
The proposed telescope would be located about four times the distance between Earth and the moon, where NEOCam could observe the comings and goings of NEOs every day without the impediments of cloud cover and daylight.