A solar-powered infrared telescope called the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) was launched by NASA today. The NASA WISE telescope will keep scientists abreast of any possible life-threatening asteroids and comets in the sky.
Set to spend 9 months in orbit, the NASA WISE telescope will cover the entire sky 1.5 times, taking pictures every 11 seconds. While the NASA WISE telescope isn't the first solar-powered infrared spacecraft to enter outer space (NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and the European Space Agency's Herschel Space Observatory are others currently orbiting the heavens), it is the only telescope that will scan the entire sky for threatening asteroids and comets.
Key Themes Behind This Trend
- Sky Scanning Telescopes
- The development of more advanced sky scanning telescopes could further enhance asteroid detection capabilities.
- Solar-powered Spacecraft
- The growing use of solar-powered spacecraft could significantly reduce the cost of asteroid detection and monitoring.
- Big Data Analytics for Astronomy
- Advances in big data analytics can help to efficiently process and analyze large amounts of data collected by sky scanning telescopes.
Where This Applies
- Space Technology
- The space technology industry can develop more advanced sky scanning telescopes and solar-powered spacecraft to enhance asteroid detection capabilities.
- Astronomy
- The astronomy industry can benefit from the use of big data analytics to more efficiently process and analyze large amounts of data collected by sky scanning telescopes.
- Emergency Management
- The emergency management industry can leverage asteroid detection technologies to better prepare for potential asteroid impacts and mitigate their potential damage.
