In July 2026, teams inspected the large sunshade of NASA's Near-Earth Object (NEO) Surveyor at a clean room in Boulder, Colorado. The structure features a specialized solar array designed to generate electricity for the spacecraft's systems.
Sunshade and Solar Array Specifications
The sunshade structure stands 20 feet (6 meters) tall and measures 8 feet (2.4 meters) wide at its base. Its two flat panels, joined at a 23.5-degree angle, were covered with 864 interconnected solar cells.
The specialized solar array can produce up to 2 kilowatts of power. It will generate all the required electricity to charge the onboard batteries powering the spacecraft's systems.
Manufacturing and Testing
The sunshade structure was built by Applied Aerospace in Stockton, California, and outfitted with its solar cells by SolAero Technologies in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in January. Environmental testing was completed at a commercial thermal vacuum testing facility in El Segundo, California, in March.
The hardware was delivered to BAE Systems Space & Mission Systems ahead of schedule in May, where it was mounted on an assembly ring during inspections in July 2026.
Mission Objectives
When in space, NEO Surveyor will seek out some of the hardest-to-find asteroids and comets. Some of these objects may be located in the direction of the Sun, a region of the sky where ground-based optical telescopes face greater difficulty searching.
Key facts and where they come from
- The sunshade structure stands 20 feet tall and 8 feet wide at its base.
The sunshade structure stands 20 feet (6 meters) tall and measures 8 feet (2.4 meters) wide at its base.
- The solar array can produce up to 2 kilowatts of power.
This specialized solar array can produce up to 2 kilowatts of power
- The sunshade was built by Applied Aerospace and outfitted by SolAero Technologies.
Built by Applied Aerospace in Stockton, California, the sunshade structure was outfitted with its solar cells by SolAero Technologies in Albuquerque, New Mexico
