NEO SURVEYOR
Artist’s impression of the NEO Surveyor spacecraft in its operational configuration
© Illustration: ESA / NASA
The Near-Earth Object Surveyor is an upcoming NASA mission designed to search for potentially hazardous asteroids. Scheduled for launch in 2027, it will consist of an infrared space telescope located part way between Earth and the Sun. This vantage point will allow it to observe asteroids on the Sun side of Earth – something that has proven difficult for ground-based or Earth-orbiting telescopes. Originally proposed as long ago as 2006, the mission repeatedly failed to secure funding from NASA’s science budget due to competition from other proposed projects. In the end, because of the wider importance of the mission, it was decided to fund it as a matter of national security instead.