One of NASA’s space telescopes can no longer withstand the attacks from Earth’s “angry” parent star.
According to NASA, one of their telescopes, the “Asteroid Hunter” NEOWISE, is predicted to fall back into Earth’s atmosphere and disintegrate by the end of 2024.
NEOWISE is NASA’s only space telescope dedicated to planetary defense, launched in 2009, and has operated for more than seven months longer than initially planned.
NEOWISE Telescope – (Graphic: NASA).
Before NASA officially announced the end of the mission on July 31, this infrared telescope had discovered over 200 new near-Earth objects, including 25 comets.
NEOWISE also provided unprecedented data on 44,000 other objects moving rapidly through the solar system.
Recently, this small spacecraft has been continuously “attacked” by its parent star, which is currently at its peak phase in our 11-year cycle.
Terrifying energy streams from the Sun have pushed the telescope closer to Earth, while it has run out of fuel to attempt to ascend again.
As a result, NEOWISE is continuously losing altitude, and by the end of this year, it is expected to be close enough to be affected by Earth’s gravity.
This will cause the telescope to plunge rapidly into the atmosphere, where friction will turn it into a fireball.
Being a small spacecraft, NEOWISE is expected to “safely burn up” in the atmosphere.
Therefore, you can be completely assured about its fall, as it means there is no risk of debris posing a danger.
Although this may seem like sad news, Dr. Amy Mainzer from the University of California, Los Angeles (USA), who is also the lead researcher of the NEOWISE mission at NASA, stated: “We have gained so much more than we expected.”
According to Live Science, NASA has announced plans to launch a new telescope to succeed NEOWISE, continuing the mission to monitor hazardous objects for Earth. Dr. Mainzer has also been selected as the lead researcher for this next mission.
