Sunshade for NASA's NEO Surveyor asteroid-hunting telescope completes testing

26 October 2026

NASA has reported that the sunshade for its NEO Surveyor mission has finished testing and moved to integration. NEO Surveyor, the Near-Earth Object Surveyor, is an infrared space telescope that will search for near-Earth asteroids and comets, including objects that lie in the direction of the Sun and are hard for ground-based optical telescopes to see. Because infrared images record an object's temperature, the data will also allow its size to be estimated. The sunshade, about 6 metres tall, blocks sunlight glare and keeps the telescope cool, and carries solar arrays of 864 cells producing up to 2 kilowatts. The structure was built by Applied Aerospace in Stockton, California, the solar cells were added by SolAero Technologies in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and integration is under way at BAE Systems Space and Mission Systems in Boulder, Colorado. The mission is linked to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office.