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By NASA
Credit: NASA NASA has selected SpaceX of Starbase, Texas, to provide launch services for the Near-Earth Object (NEO) Surveyor mission, which will detect and observe asteroids and comets that could potentially pose an impact threat to Earth.
The firm fixed price launch service task order is being awarded under the indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity NASA Launch Services II contract. The total cost to NASA for the launch service is approximately $100 million, which includes the launch service and other mission related costs. The NEO Surveyor mission is targeted to launch no earlier than September 2027 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Florida.
The NEO Surveyor mission consists of a single scientific instrument: an almost 20-inch (50-centimeter) diameter telescope that will operate in two heat-sensing infrared wavelengths. It will be capable of detecting both bright and dark asteroids, the latter being the most difficult type to find with existing assets. The space telescope is designed to help advance NASA’s planetary defense efforts to discover and characterize most of the potentially hazardous asteroids and comets that come within 30 million miles of Earth’s orbit. These are collectively known as near-Earth objects, or NEOs.
The mission will carry out a five-year baseline survey to find at least two-thirds of the unknown NEOs larger than 140 meters (460 feet). These are the objects large enough to cause major regional damage in the event of an Earth impact. By using two heat-sensitive infrared imaging channels, the telescope can also make more accurate measurements of the sizes of NEOs and gain information about their composition, shapes, rotational states, and orbits.
The mission is tasked by NASA’s Planetary Science Division within the agency’s Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Program oversight is provided by NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office, which was established in 2016 to manage the agency’s ongoing efforts in planetary defense. NASA’s Planetary Missions Program Office at the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, provides program management for NEO Surveyor. The project is being developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.
Multiple aerospace and engineering companies are contracted to build the spacecraft and its instrumentation, including BAE Systems SMS (Space & Mission Systems), Space Dynamics Laboratory, and Teledyne. The Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado, Boulder, will support operations, and the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, California, is responsible for processing survey data and producing the mission’s data products. Caltech manages JPL for NASA. Mission team leadership includes the University of California, Los Angeles. NASA’s Launch Services Program at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida is responsible for managing the launch service.
For more information about NEO Surveyor, visit:
https://science.nasa.gov/mission/neo-surveyor/
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Tiernan Doyle / Joshua Finch
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1600 / 202-358-1100
tiernan.doyle@nasa.gov / joshua.a.finch@nasa.gov
Patti Bielling
Kennedy Space Center, Florida
321-501-7575
patricia.a.bielling@nasa.gov
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Last Updated Feb 21, 2025 LocationNASA Headquarters Related Terms
Kennedy Space Center Launch Services Office Launch Services Program NEO Surveyor (Near-Earth Object Surveyor Space Telescope) Planetary Defense Coordination Office Planetary Science Division Science Mission Directorate Space Operations Mission Directorate View the full article
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By European Space Agency
The European Space Agency (ESA) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) have signed a Memorandum of Intent (MoI) to harness space technology for humanitarian assistance worldwide. The partnership will combine ESA's space expertise with ICRC's humanitarian reach to develop space-enabled solutions that can help protect and assist communities affected by disasters and conflicts across Europe and beyond.
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By NASA
Jorge Chong is helping shape the future of human spaceflight, one calculation at a time. As a project manager for TRON (Tracking and Ranging via Optical Navigation) and a guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) test engineer in the Aeroscience and Flight Mechanics Division, he is leading efforts to ensure the Orion spacecraft can navigate deep space autonomously.
Jorge Chong in front of the Mission Control Center at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston when he helped with optical navigation operations during Artemis I.Image courtesy of Jorge Chong “GNC is like the brain of a spacecraft. It involves a suite of sensors that keep track of where the vehicle is in orbit so it can return home safely,” he said. “Getting to test the components of a GNC system makes you very familiar with how it all works together, and then to see it fly and help it operate successfully is immensely rewarding.”
His work is critical to the Artemis campaign, which aims to return humans to the Moon and pave the way for Mars. From developing optical navigation technology that allows Orion to determine its position using images of Earth and the Moon to testing docking cameras and Light Detection and Ranging systems that enable autonomous spacecraft rendezvous, Chong is pushing the limits of exploration. He also runs high-fidelity flight simulations at Lockheed Martin’s Orion Test Hardware facility in Houston, ensuring Orion’s software is ready for the demands of spaceflight.
Chong’s NASA career spans seven years as a full-time engineer, plus three years as a co-op student at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. In 2024, he began leading Project TRON, an optical navigation initiative funded by a $2 million Early Career Initiative award. The project aims to advance autonomous space navigation—an essential capability for missions beyond Earth’s orbit.
Jorge Chong and his colleagues with the Artemis II docking camera in the Electro-Optics Lab at Johnson. From left to right: Paul McKee, Jorge Chong, and Kevin Kobylka. Bottom right: Steve Lockhart and Ronney Lovelace. Thanks to Chong’s work, the Artemis Generation is one step closer to exploring the Moon, Mars, and beyond. He supported optical navigation operations during Artemis I, is writing software that will fly on Artemis II, and leads optical testing for Orion’s docking cameras. But his path to NASA wasn’t always written in the stars.
“I found math difficult as a kid,” Chong admits. “I didn’t enjoy it at first, but my parents encouraged me patiently, and eventually it started to click and then became a strength and something I enjoyed. Now, it’s a core part of my career.” He emphasizes that perseverance is key, especially for students who may feel discouraged by challenging subjects.
Most of what Chong has learned, he says, came from working collaboratively on the job. “No matter how difficult something may seem, anything can be learned,” he said. “I could not have envisioned being involved in projects like these or working alongside such great teams before coming to Johnson.”
Jorge Chong (left) and his siblings Ashley and Bronsen at a Texas A&M University game. Image courtesy of Jorge Chong His career has also reinforced the importance of teamwork, especially when working with contractors, vendors, universities, and other NASA centers. “Coordinating across these dynamic teams and keeping the deliverables on track can be challenging, but it has helped to be able to lean on teammates for assistance and keep communication flowing,” said Chong.
And soon, those systems will help Artemis astronauts explore places no human has gone before. Whether guiding Orion to the Moon or beyond, Chong’s work is helping NASA write the next chapter of space exploration.
“I thank God for the doors He has opened for me and the incredible mentors and coworkers who have helped me along the way,” he said.
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By European Space Agency
On 13 and 14 February 2025, the European Space Agency (ESA) celebrated 20 years of supporting space innovation through its ESA Business Incubation Centres (BIC) network. The event in Munich, Germany, brought together entrepreneurs, successful space companies, experts and policymakers.
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By European Space Agency
The European Space Agency (ESA) has jointly signed a contract with Thales Alenia Space to develop Element #2 of its High-throughput Digital and Optical Network (HydRON), an advanced laser-based satellite system that will transform the way we communicate in space. This phase will establish a satellite collector in low Earth orbit (LEO), capable of connecting different orbital layers using cutting-edge optical technology.
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