NASA NEO Surveyor sunshade delivered and inspected
- NASA's NEO Surveyor mission has completed environmental testing.
- The sunshade structure is listed as 20 feet by 8 feet, with two flat panels angled at 23.5 degrees.
- Applied Aerospace built the structure in Stockton, California, and SolAero Technologies outfitted it with 864 solar cells in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
- The sunshade was delivered ahead of schedule to BAE Systems in Boulder, Colorado, and was inspected.
- NEO Surveyor searches for asteroids and comets toward the Sun, where ground-based optical telescopes have a harder time searching.
What happened
NASA's NEO Surveyor mission has completed environmental testing, and its large sunshade was delivered ahead of schedule to BAE Systems Space & Mission Systems in Boulder, Colorado. The sunshade was inspected.
What we know
The sunshade structure has dimensions listed as 20 feet (6 meters) and 8 feet (2.4 meters), with two flat panels angled at 23.5 degrees.
The sunshade carries 864 solar cells, and the mission's solar array is specified at 2 kilowatts and charges onboard batteries.
Applied Aerospace built the structure in Stockton, California, and SolAero Technologies outfitted it with solar cells in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The sunshade was tested before arriving in Colorado, and environmental testing has been completed. The delivery was ahead of schedule to BAE Systems Space & Mission Systems in Boulder, Colorado.
Why it matters
For readers tracking the lunar industry, NEO Surveyor is a NASA mission that seeks out asteroids and comets in the direction of the Sun, where ground-based optical telescopes have a harder time searching.
Sources
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