NEO Surveyor’s sunshade and solar array complete ground checks
NEO Surveyor’s sunshade now carries its solar cells, with sensors integrated and functional tests of the array completed. The structure will both shield the infrared asteroid telescope from sunlight and supply its electricity. NASA’s update covers ground preparation and earlier manufacturing milestones as the mission prepares to search for hard-to-detect near-Earth objects.
Science··Midday
Sunshade integration and array testing advance
NEO Surveyor, NASA’s Near-Earth Object Surveyor infrared space telescope, has advanced through integration and functional testing of its sunshade’s solar array.[1], [2]
The structure will shield the telescope from direct sunlight while generating the spacecraft’s electricity. NASA’s 26 October update describes the ground work preparing the observatory to search for asteroids and comets near Earth.[1]
The sunshade stands about 6 metres tall and measures 2.4 metres across its base. Two flat panels meet at an angle of 23.5 degrees and carry 864 interconnected solar cells. NASA says the array can produce up to 2 kilowatts, charging the onboard batteries that power the spacecraft’s systems. That figure is the design’s stated upper output, rather than a measured result from an operating telescope in space.[1]
Manufacturing and delivery preceded the latest checks
Applied Aerospace, a spacecraft-structure manufacturer in Stockton, California, built the sunshade. Solar-cell supplier SolAero Technologies fitted the cells in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in January. The combined structure underwent environmental tests in a thermal-vacuum facility in El Segundo, California, in March, before reaching aerospace contractor BAE Systems Space & Mission Systems in Boulder, Colorado, in May. Sun and temperature sensors were integrated afterward, followed by functional and performance tests of the array. Those earlier manufacturing steps are separate from the October announcement.[1]
The coarse Sun sensors serve attitude determination, establishing the spacecraft’s orientation relative to the Sun. The temperature sensors monitor thermal conditions on the sunshade.[1]
Two infrared bands will help estimate asteroid sizes
The telescope has a 50 cm aperture and will look for infrared radiation emitted by sunlight-warmed objects. Some targets appear close to the Sun’s direction, where ground-based optical telescopes have difficulty searching. Keeping direct sunlight away from the instrument is therefore part of the mission’s observing design. The sunshade combines that thermal protection with the power supply needed to operate the spacecraft.[1]
Two detector arrays will image the same sky area in different infrared bands, each making a 16-megapixel mosaic. Comparing those bands helps estimate an object’s temperature and size. Its location and motion provide additional information for assessing near-Earth objects. These are the planned measurements that the current hardware preparation supports; NEO Surveyor has not yet begun its space survey.[1]
