NASA's NEOWISE Asteroid Hunter Spacecraft Set to Burn Up in Earth's Atmosphere

After more than a decade of scanning the cosmos for planetary threats, NASA's celebrated NEOWISE spacecraft is preparing for its final, fiery descent. The 'asteroid hunter' is scheduled to burn up in Earth's atmosphere, marking the end of an incredibly successful mission that has transformed our understanding of near-Earth objects. Originally launched in 2009 as the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), the spacecraft completed its primary mission to map the entire sky in infrared light before being put into hibernation. In 2013, NASA reactivated the spacecraft under a new name: NEOWISE (Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer). Its new mission was critical: to identify and characterize asteroids and comets that venture close to Earth's orbital path.

Over its active years, NEOWISE has been an invaluable asset to planetary defense. The spacecraft observed over 3,000 near-Earth objects, providing scientists with crucial data regarding their sizes, reflectivity, and composition. Among its most famous discoveries was Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE), which put on a spectacular show for stargazers worldwide in the summer of 2020. However, the spacecraft's journey is coming to an end due to natural orbital decay. Increased solar activity has expanded the upper layers of Earth's atmosphere, creating drag that is slowly pulling the spacecraft down. Because NEOWISE lacks a propulsion system to boost its orbit, it will eventually enter the denser layers of the atmosphere and burn up safely.

This final event is not a failure but a natural conclusion to a mission that has far exceeded its expected lifespan. The data gathered by NEOWISE will continue to be analyzed by astronomers for decades to come, helping to refine tracking models for potentially hazardous asteroids. As the spacecraft prepares to make its final bow, the global astronomical community looks forward to the next generation of planetary defense systems, such as the upcoming NEO Surveyor mission, which will carry on the vital work of keeping our planet safe from cosmic impacts.

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