NASA's NEOWISE asteroid-tracking mission ended on August 8, leaving a gap in NEO monitoring.

NASA's NEOWISE asteroid-tracking mission ended on August 8, leaving a gap in monitoring near-Earth objects (NEOs) like asteroids and comets. The mission discovered over 200 of 3,000 NEOs it studied, with NEO Surveyor set to launch in 2027, aiming to discover two-thirds of all NEOs larger than 140 meters in diameter over a five-year period. The mission's end does not pose a significant threat, as asteroids of this size impact Earth every 20,000 years, but provides a foundation for future planetary defense efforts.

August 13, 2024
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