Azernews.Az

By Alimat Aliyeva

Engineers of NASA's NEOWISE (Near-Earth Object Survey) mission have ordered the last transmitter on the spacecraft observing asteroids and comets to be turned off, Azernews reports.

The planetary defense mission, which lasted for more than 10 years, to search for asteroids and comets, as well as celestial bodies that could pose a threat to the Earth, has ended.

The last group was sent from NASA's Near-Earth Orbit Mission Control Center at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Southern California. The agency's satellite tracking and data system then transmitted a signal to NEOWISE, decommissioning the spacecraft.

NASA spokeswoman Nicola Fox told reporters: "The NEOWISE mission has become an extraordinary success story as it has helped us better understand our place in the universe by tracking asteroids and comets that may be dangerous to us on Earth. "Although we are saddened by the completion of this daring mission, research will continue thanks to the next generation Planetary Defense Telescope."

NASA was forced to end the mission because NEOWISE's orbit fell too low to collect useful data. Thus, increased solar activity expands the upper layers of the atmosphere and creates resistance to a spacecraft without an engine. The decommissioned NEOWISE is expected to burn up in the Earth's atmosphere by the end of 2024.

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