Initial performance of the NEOWISE reactivation mission

Journal Article · Mon Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 2014 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/792/1/30· OSTI ID:22365214

Mainzer, A.; Bauer, J.; Masiero, J.; Eisenhardt, P.; Fabinsky, B.; Heinrichsen, I.; Liu, F. ^[1]; Cutri, R. M.; Beck, R.; Conrow, T.; Dailey, J.; Fajardo-Acosta, S.; Fowler, J.; Gelino, C.; Grillmair, C.; Kirkpatrick, J. Davy; Masci, F. ^[2]; Grav, T. ^[3]; Clarkson, P.; others, and

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1. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109 (United States)
2. Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States)
3. Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, AZ (United States)

NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) spacecraft has been brought out of hibernation and has resumed surveying the sky at 3.4 and 4.6 μm. The scientific objectives of the NEOWISE reactivation mission are to detect, track, and characterize near-Earth asteroids and comets. The search for minor planets resumed on 2013 December 23, and the first new near-Earth object (NEO) was discovered 6 days later. As an infrared survey, NEOWISE detects asteroids based on their thermal emission and is equally sensitive to high and low albedo objects; consequently, NEOWISE-discovered NEOs tend to be large and dark. Over the course of its three-year mission, NEOWISE will determine radiometrically derived diameters and albedos for ∼2000 NEOs and tens of thousands of Main Belt asteroids. The 32 months of hibernation have had no significant effect on the mission's performance. Image quality, sensitivity, photometric and astrometric accuracy, completeness, and the rate of minor planet detections are all essentially unchanged from the prime mission's post-cryogenic phase.

• OSTI ID: 22365214
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 792, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
ACCURACY
ALBEDO
ASTEROIDS
COMETS
DETECTION
EMISSION
IMAGES
INFRARED SURVEYS
NASA
PLANETS
REGENERATION
SENSITIVITY
SPACE VEHICLES