NEO Surveyor's Mirrors Undergo Inspection at JPL

A mirror set to be installed inside the telescope for NASA's Near-Earth Object Surveyor (NEO Surveyor) is seen during an inspection of the mirror's surface at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California on July 17, 2024. Being built in a JPL clean room, the infrared telescope is the spacecraft's only instrument and it will be used to seek out some of the hardest-to-find near-Earth objects that may pose a hazard to our planet.

The reflection of principal optical engineer Brian Monacelli can be seen in the mirror.

Known as a "three-mirror anastigmat telescope," the instrument will rely on a set of curved mirrors to focus light onto its infrared detectors in such a way that minimizes optical aberrations. Before being installed, the mirrors were examined for any debris or damage. Then, JPL's team of optomechanical technicians and engineers attached the mirrors to the telescope's "optical bench" in August. Next, they will measure the telescope's performance and align the telescope's mirrors. When complete, the telescope will be housed inside an instrument enclosure – being built at JPL in a different clean room – that is fabricated from dark composite material that allows heat to escape, helping to keep the telescope cool and prevent its own heat from obscuring observations.

The NEO Surveyor mission is tasked by NASA's Planetary Science Division within the Science Mission Directorate; program oversight is provided by the Planetary Defense Coordination Office, which was established in 2016 to manage the agency's ongoing efforts in planetary defense. NASA's Planetary Missions Program Office at the agency's Marshall Space Flight Center provides program management for NEO Surveyor.

The project is being developed by JPL and is led by principal investigator Amy Mainzer at UCLA. Established aerospace and engineering companies have been contracted to build the spacecraft and its instrumentation, including BAE Systems, Space Dynamics Laboratory, and Teledyne. The Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado, Boulder will support operations, and IPAC-Caltech in Pasadena, California, is responsible for processing survey data and producing the mission's data products. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.

More information about NEO Surveyor is available at: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/neo-surveyor