Washington: A defense telescope in space that tracks asteroids that pose a threat to Earth has been shut down for more than a decade.
According to media reports, NASA’s Near Earth Object Widefield Infrared Survey Explorer space telescope has now been officially deactivated.
The space agency sent final command to the NEOWISE craft from its Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, ending more than 10 years of active defense missions.
After NASA downloaded all the scientific data from the Infrared Survey Telescope, the telescope retired because it would soon fall too low in its orbit around the Earth and no longer be able to transmit usable information.
