To explore the night sky NASAs sent into orbit long ago NEOWISE The said infrared satellite was pushed out of orbit due to solar flares. At the end of this process, the satellite will burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere and disappear. The infrared telescope, launched in 2009, has been Nearly 200 celestial bodies had revealed.

NEOWISE’s last journey

NASAs NEOWISE It was announced that the vehicle named (Near-Earth Object Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer) will become inoperable in 2025 due to increasing solar activities. The telescope’s orbit will become lower and lower over time. The solar flares that cause this situation will actually affect other satellites.

Earth’s atmosphere due to solar flares heats up and expands. The expanding atmosphere exposes satellites to more friction. Satellites lose speed due to friction, deviate from their orbit over time and are pulled into the lower layers of the atmosphere. Because the atmosphere is denser in the lower layers, the loss of speed increases.

On December 13, 2013 NEOWISE, which restarted its activities, has since played an important role in the discovery of many asteroids and comets. This satellite, which studies objects near Earth, was known for improving planetary defense strategies. NEOWISE Actually 2009 in the year WSE It emerged with the redesign of its mission.

On his first mission WISE maps the sky The infrared telescope, which was launched twice, was activated with a new mission after running out of coolant. The satellite, which without coolant would not be able to observe the coldest objects in the universe, was tasked to observe objects that may be in orbit around our planet and pose a potential collision hazard.

successor to NEOWISE NEO Surveyor It is still a work in progress and is scheduled to be commissioned in 2027.