NASA released an image showing a technician inspecting the sunshade for its Near-Earth Object (NEO) Surveyor mission. The agency said the image was released on Oct. 26, 2026. NASA published the image article on Oct. 27, 2026.
The agency described the photographed hardware as the sunshade structure for the NEO Surveyor spacecraft. According to NASA, the sunshade will keep the infrared space telescope cool as it searches for near-Earth asteroids and comets. NASA said the sunshade will also provide the spacecraft with power.
The sunshade measures 20 feet, or 6 meters, tall and 8 feet, or 2.4 meters, wide at its base, according to the image article. The caption identifies the photographed person as a technician inspecting the structure.
NASA said the mission will look for difficult targets that can be missed by ground-based observatories. NEO Surveyor will “detect some of the hardest-to-find asteroids and comets,” the agency said. NASA added that some of these objects may be located in the direction of the Sun, a part of the sky “where ground-based optical telescopes have a harder time searching.”
The image article credits BAE Systems Space & Mission Systems for the photograph. NASA labeled the post as an image article and listed the HQ Web Team as the publisher.
The agency did not provide a schedule for the NEO Surveyor mission in this release. It did not include additional technical details beyond the sunshade’s dimensions and functions. NASA pointed readers to learn more about the sunshade and the mission but did not provide further specifics in the caption.