Spaceflight Now reports, “A spacecraft that helped bolster planetary defense is now at the end of its operational mission. On Thursday, engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California sent the Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) spacecraft into its final hibernation mode by shutting off its transmitter. The command, issued from the Earth Orbiting Missions Operations Center at JPL, brought to an end more than a decade of observations of comets and asteroids that helped further the understanding of celestial bodies that could potentially pose a threat to Earth.”
Full Story (Spaceflight Now)
Tag: Hunting Telescope
NASA’s NEOWISE Spacecraft Set to Retire at End of Month
Flying Magazine reports that NASA’s Near-Earth Object (NEO) Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or NEOWISE, “has taken millions of infrared measurements and studied tens of thousands of asteroids, comets, stars, galaxies, and other objects.” In late 2024 or early 2025, the spacecraft “is expected to come home in pieces following the conclusion of its second mission later this month.”
Full Story (Flying Magazine)