Space and Tech
NEOWISE, the NASA mission that cataloged objects around Earth for over a decade, has come to an end
Toshi Hirabayashi, Georgia Institute of Technology and Yaeji Kim, University of Maryland
The NASA project NEOWISE, which has given astronomers a detailed view of near-Earth objects – some of which could strike the Earth – ended its mission and burned on reentering the atmosphere after over a decade.
On a clear night, the sky is full of bright objects – from stars, large planets and galaxies to tiny asteroids flying near Earth. These asteroids are commonly known as near-Earth objects, and they come in a wide variety of sizes. Some are tens of kilometers across or larger, while others are only tens of meters or smaller.
On occasion, near-Earth objects smash into Earth at a high speed – roughly 10 miles per second (16 kilometers per second) or faster. That’s about 15 times as fast as a rifle’s muzzle speed. An impact at that speed can easily damage the planet’s surface and anything on it.
Impacts from large near-Earth objects are generally rare over a typical human lifetime. But they’re more frequent on a geological timescale of millions to billions of years. The best example may be a 6-mile-wide (10-kilometer-wide) asteroid that crashed into Earth, killed the dinosaurs and created Chicxulub crater about 65 million years ago.
Smaller impacts are very common on Earth, as there are more small near-Earth objects. An international community effort called planetary defense protects humans from these space intruders by cataloging and monitoring as many near-Earth objects as possible, including those closely approaching Earth. Researchers call the near-Earth objects that could collide with the surface potentially hazardous objects.
NASA began its NEOWISE mission in December 2013. This mission’s primary focus was to use the space telescope from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer to closely detect and characterize near-Earth objects such as asteroids and comets.
NEOWISE contributed to planetary defense efforts with its research to catalog near-Earth objects. Over the past decade, it helped planetary defenders like us and our colleagues study near-Earth objects.
Detecting near-Earth objects
NEOWISE was a game-changing mission, as it revolutionized how to survey near-Earth objects.
The NEOWISE mission continued to use the spacecraft from NASA’s WISE mission, which ran from late 2009 to 2011 and conducted an all-sky infrared survey to detect not only near-Earth objects but also distant objects such as galaxies.
The spacecraft orbited Earth from north to south, passing over the poles, and it was in a Sun-synchronous orbit, where it could see the Sun in the same direction over time. This position allowed it to scan all of the sky efficiently.
The spacecraft could survey astronomical and planetary objects by detecting the signatures they emitted in the mid-infrared range.
Humans’ eyes can sense visible light, which is electromagnetic radiation between 400 and 700 nanometers. When we look at stars in the sky with the naked eye, we see their visible light components.
However, mid-infrared light contains waves between 3 and 30 micrometers and is invisible to human eyes.
When heated, an object stores that heat as thermal energy. Unless the object is thermally insulated, it releases that energy continuously as electromagnetic energy, in the mid-infrared range.
This process, known as thermal emission, happens to near-Earth objects after the Sun heats them up. The smaller an asteroid, the fainter its thermal emission. The NEOWISE spacecraft could sense thermal emissions from near-Earth objects at a high level of sensitivity – meaning it could detect small asteroids.
But asteroids aren’t the only objects that emit heat. The spacecraft’s sensors could pick up heat emissions from other sources too – including the spacecraft itself.
To make sure heat from the spacecraft wasn’t hindering the search, the WISE/NEOWISE spacecraft was designed so that it could actively cool itself using then-state-of-the-art solid hydrogen cryogenic cooling systems.
Operation phases
Since the spacecraft’s equipment needed to be very sensitive to detect faraway objects for WISE, it used solid hydrogen, which is extremely cold, to cool itself down and avoid any noise that could mess with the instruments’ sensitivity. Eventually the coolant ran out, but not until WISE had successfully completed its science goals.
During the cryogenic phase when it was actively cooling itself, the spacecraft operated at a temperature of about -447 degrees Fahrenheit (-266 degrees Celsius), slightly higher than the universe’s temperature, which is about -454 degrees Fahrenheit (-270 degrees Celsius).
The cryogenic phase lasted from 2009 to 2011, until the spacecraft went into hibernation in 2011.
Following the hibernation period, NASA decided to reactivate the WISE spacecraft under the NEOWISE mission, with a more specialized focus on detecting near-Earth objects, which was still feasible even without the cryogenic cooling.
During this reactivation phase, the detectors didn’t need to be quite as sensitive, nor the spacecraft kept as cold as it was during the cryogenic cooling phase, since near-Earth objects are closer than WISE’s faraway targets.
The consequence of losing the active cooling was that two long-wave detectors out of the four on board became so hot that they could no longer function, limiting the craft’s capability.
Nevertheless, NEOWISE used its two operational detectors to continuously monitor both previously and newly detected near-Earth objects in detail.
NEOWISE’s legacy
As of February 2024, NEOWISE had taken more than 1.5 million infrared measurements of about 44,000 different objects in the solar system. These included about 1,600 discoveries of near-Earth objects. NEOWISE also provided detailed size estimates for more than 1,800 near-Earth objects.
Despite the mission’s contributions to science and planetary defense, it was decommissioned in August 2024. The spacecraft eventually started to fall toward Earth’s surface, until it reentered Earth’s atmosphere and burned up on Nov. 1, 2024.
NEOWISE’s contributions to hunting near-Earth objects gave scientists much deeper insights into the asteroids around Earth. It also gave scientists a better idea of what challenges they’ll need to overcome to detect faint objects.
So, did NEOWISE find all the near-Earth objects? The answer is no. Most scientists still believe that there are far more near-Earth objects out there that still need to be identified, particularly smaller ones.
To carry on NEOWISE’s legacy, NASA is planning a mission called NEO Surveyor. NEO Surveyor will be a next-generation space telescope that can study small near-Earth asteroids in more detail, mainly to contribute to NASA’s planetary defense efforts. It will identify hundreds of thousands of near-Earth objects that are as small as about 33 feet (10 meters) across. The spacecraft’s launch is scheduled for 2027.
Toshi Hirabayashi, Associate Professor of Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology and Yaeji Kim, Postdoctoral Associate in Astronomy, University of Maryland
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
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Last Updated on February 10, 2026 by Daily News Staff
Valerie Thomas is a true pioneer in the world of science and technology. A NASA engineer and physicist, she is best known for inventing the illusion transmitter, a groundbreaking device that creates 3D images using concave mirrors. This invention laid the foundation for modern 3D imaging and virtual reality technologies.
Beyond her inventions, Thomas broke barriers as an African American woman in STEM, mentoring countless young scientists and advocating for diversity in science and engineering. Her work at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center helped advance satellite technology and data visualization, making her contributions both innovative and enduring.
In our latest short video, we highlight Valerie Thomas’ remarkable journey—from her early passion for science to her groundbreaking work at NASA. Watch and be inspired by a true STEM pioneer whose legacy continues to shape the future of space and technology.
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Beneath the Waves: The Global Push to Build Undersea Railways
Undersea railways are transforming transportation, turning oceans from barriers into gateways. Proven by tunnels like the Channel and Seikan, these innovations offer cleaner, reliable connections for passengers and freight. Ongoing projects in China and Europe, alongside future proposals, signal a new era of global mobility beneath the waves.
For most of modern history, oceans have acted as natural barriers—dividing nations, slowing trade, and shaping how cities grow. But beneath the waves, a quiet transportation revolution is underway. Infrastructure once limited by geography is now being reimagined through undersea railways.
Undersea rail tunnels—like the Channel Tunnel and Japan’s Seikan Tunnel—proved decades ago that trains could reliably travel beneath the ocean floor. Today, new projects are expanding that vision even further.
Around the world, engineers and governments are investing in undersea railways—tunnels that allow high-speed trains to travel beneath oceans and seas. Once considered science fiction, these projects are now operational, under construction, or actively being planned.
Undersea Rail Is Already a Reality
Japan’s Seikan Tunnel and the Channel Tunnel between the United Kingdom and France proved decades ago that undersea railways are not only possible, but reliable. These tunnels carry passengers and freight beneath the sea every day, reshaping regional connectivity.
Undersea railways are cleaner than short-haul flights, more resilient than bridges, and capable of lasting more than a century. As climate pressures and congestion increase, rail beneath the sea is emerging as a practical solution for future mobility.
What’s Being Built Right Now
China is currently constructing the Jintang Undersea Railway Tunnel as part of the Ningbo–Zhoushan high-speed rail line, while Europe’s Fehmarnbelt Fixed Link will soon connect Denmark and Germany beneath the Baltic Sea. These projects highlight how transportation and technology are converging to solve modern mobility challenges.
The Mega-Projects Still on the Drawing Board
Looking ahead, proposals such as the Helsinki–Tallinn Tunnel and the long-studied Strait of Gibraltar rail tunnel could reshape global affairs by linking regions—and even continents—once separated by water.
Why Undersea Rail Matters
The future of transportation may not rise above the ocean—but run quietly beneath it.
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Space and Tech
Blue Origin Launches First Human Spaceflight of 2026 with New Shepard NS-38
Blue Origin successfully completed its first human spaceflight of 2026 with New Shepard NS-38, carrying six private astronauts and marking 98 humans flown to space.
Blue Origin has officially kicked off its 2026 flight calendar, successfully completing the 38th mission of its New Shepard program and further solidifying its role in commercial human spaceflight.
The suborbital flight, known as NS-38, carried six private astronauts beyond the Kármán line, offering several minutes of weightlessness and sweeping views of Earth before a safe return to West Texas. The mission marks the first New Shepard launch of 2026 and another milestone for Blue Origin’s reusable spaceflight system.
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The NS-38 Crew
The six-person crew aboard NS-38 included:
- Tim Drexler
- Dr. Linda Edwards
- Alain Fernandez
- Alberto Gutiérrez
- Jim Hendren
- Dr. Laura Stiles
With this flight, New Shepard has now flown 98 humans into space, representing 92 individual passengers. The growing total reflects Blue Origin’s emphasis on routine, repeatable access to space—once considered experimental, now becoming operational.
A Reliable Start to 2026
Blue Origin leadership emphasized reliability and customer trust as central priorities moving into the new year.
“As we enter 2026, we’re focused on continuing to deliver transformational experiences for our customers through the proven capability and reliability of New Shepard,” said Phil Joyce, Senior Vice President of New Shepard. “We are grateful for our astronaut customers who put their trust in our team to bring this experience into reality.”
The fully reusable New Shepard rocket and capsule system has demonstrated strong safety performance, autonomous operations, and consistent recovery—key elements in scaling human spaceflight.
Building Toward a Larger Vision
Beyond space tourism, New Shepard plays a foundational role in Blue Origin’s long-term goal of enabling millions of people to live and work in space for the benefit of Earth.
As the company’s first operational human spaceflight system, New Shepard supports:
- Reusable launch vehicle testing
- Human-rated safety system validation
- Increased launch cadence and manufacturing expertise
- Future Blue Origin programs and missions
Each successful flight expands operational confidence while helping normalize commercial access to space.
What’s Next for Aspiring Astronauts
Blue Origin continues to accept interest from future New Shepard passengers, with additional flights expected throughout 2026. The company also released commemorative merchandise from the NS-38 mission, now available through the Blue Origin Shop.
As commercial spaceflight matures, missions like NS-38 highlight the industry’s shift from novelty to normalcy—bringing space closer to scientists, explorers, and private citizens alike.
Related Articles & Information
- Blue Origin – New Shepard Program Overview
Official overview of Blue Origin’s reusable suborbital rocket and human spaceflight system. - Blue Origin – Human Spaceflight Missions
Details on past and upcoming crewed New Shepard missions. - NASA: Humans in Space
NASA’s overview of human spaceflight history and current programs. - Commercial Spaceflight: How Private Companies Are Changing Access to Space
STM Daily News coverage of the growing space tourism and commercial launch industry. - Reusable Rockets Explained: Why They Matter
An explainer on reusable rocket technology and its impact on space exploration.
For more updates, insights, and in-depth coverage of space exploration and commercial spaceflight, visit the STM Daily News blog at stmdailynews.com. From mission breakdowns to industry trends and technology explainers, STM Daily News keeps you informed about humanity’s journey beyond Earth.
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