21 Aug 2013 - NASA Spacecraft Reactivated to Hunt for Asteroids

[NASA]

http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/images/miss-wise-mp.jpg (http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/display.cfm?News_ID=44749)21 Aug 2013 - NASA Spacecraft Reactivated to Hunt for Asteroids
WISE will be revived next month with the goal of discovering and characterizing near-Earth objects.


More... (http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/display.cfm?News_ID=44749)

[MorningSong]

I think this is important! WISE supposedly mapped the "skies" looking for NEO's (near-earth objects), then they turned it off. Now, after 2 years, they're turning it back on to do this:


he Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) will be revived next month with the goal of discovering and characterizing near-Earth objects (NEOs), space rocks that can be found orbiting within 45 million kilometers (28 million miles) from Earth's path around the sun. NASA anticipates WISE will use its 16-inch (40-centimeter) telescope and infrared cameras to discover about 150 previously unknown NEOs and characterize the size, albedo and thermal properties of about 2,000 others -- including some of which could be candidates for the agency's recently announced asteroid initiative.

"The WISE mission achieved its mission's goals and as NEOWISE extended the science even further in its survey of asteroids. NASA is now extending that record of success, which will enhance our ability to find potentially hazardous asteroids, and support the new asteroid initiative," said John Grunsfeld, NASA's associate administrator for science in Washington. "Reactivating WISE is an excellent example of how we are leveraging existing capabilities across the agency to achieve our goal."

NASA's asteroid initiative will be the first mission to identify, capture and relocate an asteroid. It represents an unprecedented technological feat that will lead to new scientific discoveries and technological capabilities that will help protect our home planet. The asteroid initiative brings together the best of NASA's science, technology and human exploration efforts to achieve President Obama's goal of sending humans to an asteroid by 2025.

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The WISE prime mission was to scan the entire celestial sky in infrared light. It captured more than 2.7 million images in multiple infrared wavelengths and cataloged more than 560 million objects in space, ranging from galaxies faraway to asteroids and comets much closer to Earth.

http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/display.cfm?News_ID=44749