Mothballed NASA Telescope May Get New Life

By: Zain Nabi  |   August 6th, 2013   |   News

NASA has made another remarkable achievement by re-activating a mothballed telescope. According to a senior official of the US space agency, this telescope can help find the asteroids that can collide with the planet Earth any time.

 

It took almost one year for Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer commonly known as WISE to take the pictures of an all-sky map. These pictures were launched in December 2009. WISE with the help of its strong detectors is able to see thick layers of dust in detail. It can also sense other dim objects.

 

NASA then with the help of WISE conducted a mission in which they searched for asteroids and comets in the solar system. The main objective was to find objects in orbits that were close to Earth. WISE in its research found about 150 asteroids that were near our planet. Among them 20 were potentially dangerous. In February 2011, the telescope was finally put into hibernation.

 

According to Lindley Johnson, head of Near-Earth objects observation program, in order to enhance the efforts of asteroid-hunting NASA is now contemplating bringing WISE out of hibernation.

 

Russia faced small asteroids explosion in February in which more than 1,500 people were injured. As soon as the small asteroid exploded, a larger asteroid passed Earth that is the major reason of planet rings.  Together those events are a major reason of celestial of alarm clock. It prompts the congressional hearings and this is the time when NASA or other agencies can think to take initiatives for the detection of asteroids.

 

According to NASA, about 95% of asteroids are founded by them that are of .62 or larger in diameter. Lindley said at the meeting of NASA advisory committee in Washington:

 

“If an object of that size were to impact the Earth, it would have global consequences. He added: “One as much as 100 meters (328 feet) in size would have regional effects and could cause a great many casualties.”

 

The Obama administration has requested the congress to double the $20 million NASA budget from the beginning of the 2014 fiscal year so the agency can easily conduct the near Earth Objects detection program.