NASA's 20-Foot NEO Surveyor Sunshade Advances Toward Integration

NASA’s NEO Surveyor spacecraft is moving toward integration after its large sunshade, fitted with a specialized solar array, was inspected at BAE Systems in Colorado. The six-meter-tall structure is designed to shield the infrared telescope from the Sun’s heat and glare, while its 864 solar cells can generate up to 2 kilowatts to power the spacecraft. Built in California, outfitted with solar cells in New Mexico, and tested before delivery, the hardware will help the mission search for near-Earth asteroids and comets that are difficult for ground-based telescopes to detect, including objects in the Sun’s direction.