The Near-Earth Object (NEO) Surveyor project recently passed its Key Decision Point C review and NASA has approved the mission for flight launch is scheduled no earlier than June 2028.

NEO Surveyor is an infrared space telescope designed to help advance NASA’s planetary defense efforts by expediting the ability to discover and characterize at least 90% of the potentially hazardous asteroids and comets that come within 30 million miles of Earth’s orbit, collectively known as near-Earth objects, or NEOs. NEO Surveyor’s successful completion of this review furthers NASA’s commitment to planetary defense and the search for NEOs that could one day pose an impact threat to Earth.

LPL Professor Amy Mainzer is Principal Investigator for the NEO Surveyor mission.