Planetary Defence Mission: Ball Aerospace, the prime contractor, has entered into an agreement with Thales Alenia Space, a joint venture comprising Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), to provide communications equipment for NASA’s NEO Surveyor mission.
Launched in 2028, the primary objective of this five-year mission is to enhance efforts to protect Earth against near-Earth objects, including as comets and asteroids, within 50 million miles of Earth’s orbit.
Using an infrared space telescope, NEO Surveyor will be able to find and analyse at least two-thirds of the near-Earth objects larger than 140 metres that have the potential to seriously harm Earth if they collide.
NEO Surveyor, which is operated by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), will travel 1.5 million kilometres to the L1 Lagrange point, a zone of gravitational stability between Earth and the Sun, where it will circle for the duration of its five-year primary mission.
NEO Surveyor will be able to observe the solar system in infrared wavelengths from this position. Since it is invisible to the human eye, Earth’s atmosphere primarily blocks this type of light. Its space telescope will be able to detect both bright and dark asteroids, which are the hardest to find. It will also be able to measure the exact sizes of NEOs and obtain important information about their composition, shapes, rotational states, and orbits by utilising two heat-sensitive infrared imaging channels.
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Planetary Defence Mission
For the NEO Surveyor spacecraft, Thales Alenia Space will supply S-band transponder, K-band modulator, and K-band travelling wave tube amplifier (TWTA) equipment. The spacecraft’s telemetries and the range signals that are used to determine its distance are transmitted back to Earth via the S-band Transponders, which are also responsible for receiving telecommands from NASA’s Deep Space Network. The NEO Surveyor telescope’s pictures are sent to Earth using K-band modulators and power amplifiers.
“We are thrilled to provide key communications equipment for the NEO Surveyor mission, which will represent a significant advance in NASA-led planetary defence efforts to protect our planet from hazardous asteroids and comets,” stated Emmanuel Terrasse, vice president of Thales Alenia Space’s equipment division.
“We appreciate Ball Aerospace, our prime contractor, for their selection and faith in Thales Alenia Space. From low Earth orbit to deep space, Thales Alenia Space has provided essential communications technologies to hundreds of missions over the course of more than 40 years. Notable NASA space exploration projects include the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope.
