I found an asteroid! yells revived probe NEOWISE. Boffins nod politely

Sorry, apocalypse fans: this asteroid probably won't get any closer to Earth than Moon-orbit distance. However, it puts an early win on the board for NASA's recently revived NEOWISE spacecraft. The NEOWISE asteroid-hunter, revived in September after a two-year hibernation, sent back its first post-awakening images in December …

[Anonymous Coward]

So, what happens if they spot something that poses a significant threat? Nothing can be done in time. Say, comet ISON was going to hit the earth, about a year of planning, but what IS the plan, politicians heading for secret bunkers?

[Chozo]

re; The Plan

Wisbe Fuched is where all UK residents are advised to go in a crisis.

[Anonymous Coward]

Safety hat anyone?

"It's the weird colour scheme that freaks me. Every time you try to operate one of these weird black controls, which are labeled in black on a black background, a small black light lights up black to let you know you've done it. Hey, what is this, some kind of galactic hyper-hearse?"

Zaphod Beeblebrox.

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't want to know

This just raises my anxiety levels when I look up at the sky. I don't see pretty white clouds and a blue sky anymore.......

I now suffer from meteorophobia,

[AndrueC]

Re: I don't want to know

I now suffer from meteorophobia

It's not the meteors you have to worry about. It's the meteorites.

[Wize]

Re: I don't want to know

"It's not the meteors you have to worry about. It's the meteorites."

No, its the potholes you need to worry about if you spend all your time watching the sky for falling objects.

[Arachnoid]

What am I missing

"was mothballed at the end of its original mission, when the solid hydrogen that cooled its telescope to 7.6 Kelvin was exhausted"

I thought space was extremely cold when not in direct sunlight?

[squigbobble]

Re: What am I missing

It's a bit hard to avoid direct sunlight while you're orbiting the Sun.

[mosw]

Re: What am I missing

"I thought space was extremely cold when not in direct sunlight?"

Although technically very cold the vacuum of space also makes it a very good thermal insulator. So anything that generates its own heat - like electronic hardware - has a very hard time shedding that heat and so can get very hot.

[Chris Evans]

Did they call the AA out?

"NEOWISE – originally WISE – was mothballed at the end of its original mission, when the solid hydrogen that cooled its telescope to 7.6 Kelvin was exhausted. ...However, NASA was able to secure funding for the new asteroid-hunting mission"

Did the new funding pay for a man from the AA to replenish the Hydrogen?

Seriously, how have they started a new mission?

[Trevor_Pott]

Re: Did they call the AA out?

The telescope only needed be cooled down so far in order to see dim ultra-dim objects; think brown dwarfs. Running at a hotter temperature doesn't allow it to see these objects, but would allow it to see brighter ones.

[Chris Evans]

Re: Did they call the AA out?

A good bit of re-purposing. They seem to be very good at that with probes, rovers etc.

A pity more of it doesn't happen, so much stuff is thrown away that could have further use. Recycling is very poor last resort. Councils are very into recycling but do almost nothing to aid re-purposing.

[cortland]

Eppur si funzione

"... However, two of its four infrared cameras remained operational. These two channels were still useful for asteroid hunting, so NASA extended the NEOWISE portion of the WISE mission by four months, with the primary purpose of hunting for more asteroids and comets, and to finish one complete scan of the main asteroid belt. The spacecraft was then placed in hibernation in case another science opportunity arose."

http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/profile.cfm?Sort=Chron&StartYear=2010&EndYear=2019&MCode=WISE