The NEOWISE space telescope burned up in the Earth’s atmosphere

On November 1, 2024, NASA’s NEOWISE infrared space telescope entered the Earth’s atmosphere and burned up, NASA reported on the X network (formerly Twitter). The telescope’s mission lasted just over 14 years. Most of them, the telescope operated under an expanded scientific program, which served as the basis for the development of a new generation of space asteroid hunter.

Image source: NASA

NASA’s NEOWISE telescope was born as WISE (Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer). It was launched in 2009. The main scientific work of the telescope was completed in February 2011. The refrigerant that cooled the telescope’s infrared sensors ran out of coolant on board, and further search for distant and dim objects became impossible. In just over a year, WISE has made many discoveries, including the discovery of the world’s brightest infrared galaxy and a nearby brown dwarf. Even today, the data collected by the telescope is used for scientific research and will be used in the years to come.

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In 2013, the WISE telescope, which had been in sleep mode for more than two years, was awakened to carry out an expanded science program. On board WISE, two of the four infrared sensors remained operational and did not require mandatory cooling. So the telescope found a second life and became known as NEOWISE (Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer). As the name suggests, the mission of the telescope was to search for near-Earth objects, which, as you might guess, could threaten our planet and earthly civilization. So NEOWISE entered service in planetary defense and remained there until the end of July 2024.

NEOWISE avionics were disabled on August 8, 2024. The telescope had descended too low above the Earth for it to continue operating and simply remain in orbit. NASA predicted that depending on the activity of the Sun, which at its peak expands the boundaries of the atmosphere, the telescope will burn out between December 2024 and February 2025. But the Sun in the current cycle turned out to be extremely active and, in fact, NEOWISE burned up in the atmosphere on November 1.

NEOWISE / WISE

The NEOWISE mission will continue with a new asteroid hunter, the NEO Surveyor telescope. Its launch is expected in 2027. The NEO Surveyor telescope will be sent to the Lagrange point L1 (between the Sun and Earth). Its sensors will be designed and shielded so that the use of refrigerant is not required. The NEO Surveyor telescope will help search for dangerous asteroids coming from the direction of the Sun, which the star itself prevented from being observed from Earth or from its orbit. Techniques developed on NEOWISE will help make NEO Surveyor work more efficiently. More than 20 years ago, a meteorite that exploded over Chelyabinsk came from the direction of the Sun and became a surprise. NEO Surveyor will help you avoid such situations in the future.