NEA Scout

Near Earth Asteroid Scout

active Mission

NEA Scout

NEA Scout was a CubeSat that flew as a secondary payload on Artemis I. Roughly the size of a large shoebox – it was to be propelled by a solar sail, and take pictures of a near-Earth asteroid. After launch, the project team was not able to communicate with the spacecraft.

Type

CubeSat

Launch

Nov. 16, 2022

Target

Asteroid 2020 GE

Objective

Study and photograph an asteroid

NEA Scout Stories

Explore All NEA Scout (Near Earth Asteroid Scout) Stories

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The image is divided horizontally by an undulating line between a cloudscape forming a nebula along the bottom portion and a comparatively clear upper portion. Speckled across both portions is a starfield, showing innumerable stars of many sizes. The smallest of these are small, distant, and faint points of light. The largest of these appear larger, closer, brighter, and more fully resolved with 8-point diffraction spikes. The upper portion of the image is blueish, and has wispy translucent cloud-like streaks rising from the nebula below. The orangish cloudy formation in the bottom half varies in density and ranges from translucent to opaque. The stars vary in color, the majority of which have a blue or orange hue. The cloud-like structure of the nebula contains ridges, peaks, and valleys – an appearance very similar to a mountain range. Three long diffraction spikes from the top right edge of the image suggest the presence of a large star just out of view.

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