Quality Time with NEO Surveyor

Quality time with NEO Surveyor, NASA’s future asteroid hunting telescope, on the High Bay 1 clean room floor at JPL’s Spacecraft Assembly Facility.

Launching no earlier than September 2027, NEO (Near-Earth Object) Surveyor will feature a cutting-edge infrared space telescope built to seek out the hardest-to-find asteroids & comets that might pose a hazard to our planet.

JPL’s Spacecraft Assembly Facility (SAF) is where all JPL-built missions from 1962 onward have been assembled. (A second high bay facility was added in 1976 during the construction of the Voyagers.) Learn more about clean room protocols, the “bunny suits” worn on the floor, and more!

Sixty years of deep space signals…and still going strong. 

ICYMI: NASA’s Deep Space Network complex in Canberra, Australia recently commemorated 60 years of service to space exploration - while breaking ground on a new antenna. 

Learn more about the global network of giant radio antennas making spacecraft communication possible at the Moon and beyond.

Image: Deep Space Network, Deep Space Station 43, a 230-foot-wide antenna at Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex near Canberra, Australia. Credit: NASA

Europa Clipper / Mars Gravity Assist

NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft performed a gravity assist maneuver at Mars, using the planet's gravity to adjust the spacecraft's trajectory as it continues a 5.5-year journey to Jupiter. Go Europa Clipper! Learn more

Image: This artist’s concept depicts NASA’s Europa Clipper as it flies by Mars, using the planet’s gravitational force to alter the spacecraft’s path on its way to the Jupiter system. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Bonus:

  • Here’s how scientists and engineers on Earth navigate faraway spacecraft using the Deep Space Network, NASA’s international collection of giant radio antennas used to communicate with spacecraft at the Moon and beyond. Learn more

  • Next-up: on Dec 3, 2026, Europa Clipper will complete a gravity assist from Earth, then will cruise to Jupiter to arrive in April 2030 to search for signs of potential habitability on Jupiter's icy ocean moon Europa. Learn more

  • Ride along virtually via NASA’s Eyes on the Solar System, a simulated view of the solar system. Learn more