Space

NEO Surveyor’s Sunshade Gets Inspected

Read full article at source ↗

Based on a feed excerpt; full article content has not been acquired. Source evidence retrieved 26/10/2026, 21:50:24 UTC.

Briefings

NASA's NEO Surveyor spacecraft received its solar array in July 2026 at BAE Systems Space & Mission Systems in Boulder, Colorado. The 20-foot tall, 8-foot wide sunshade features 864 interconnected solar cells and generates up to 2 kilowatts of power. It was assembled by Applied Aerospace in Stockton, California, and solar cells were applied by SolAero Technologies in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Environmental testing occurred at a commercial thermal vacuum facility in El Segundo, California, in March, with delivery to Boulder in May. The mission aims to search for asteroids and comets near the Sun, a region where ground-based telescopes face challenges.

Key points

• NEO Surveyor's sunshade is 20 feet tall and 8 feet wide, equipped with 864 interconnected solar cells.
• The solar array was assembled by Applied Aerospace in Stockton, California, and solar cells were applied by SolAero Technologies in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Context

NEO Surveyor is a NASA mission designed to search for asteroids and comets near the Sun, a region where ground-based optical telescopes face challenges. The spacecraft will operate in space to conduct these searches.

Limitations

The evidence covers only the July 2026 installation of the sunshade at BAE Systems Space & Mission Systems in Boulder, Colorado. It does not include details about the spacecraft's launch, mission timeline, or operational history prior to this inspection.

Generated by Bittrees-hosted qwen35-2b sha256:aaf42c8b7c3c on 26/10/2026, 21:52:58 UTC. Based on publisher-provided feed evidence; may not cover the full original article. Check the source for details.

View archived briefing on IPFS
bafybeiec2zu6ivo54fy2jujgm5f3tshk2cni5sbdqhjcyg6mpsixg6j6h4