NASA released an image on Oct. 26, 2026, showing a technician inspecting the large sunshade of its Near-Earth Object (NEO) Surveyor mission. According to the agency, the sunshade structure stands 20 feet (6 meters) tall and measures 8 feet (2.4 meters) wide at its base. The image was credited to BAE Systems Space & Mission Systems.

NASA says the sunshade will keep the infrared space telescope cool as it searches for near-Earth asteroids and comets, while also providing the spacecraft with power. Once in space, NEO Surveyor is intended to detect some of the hardest-to-find asteroids and comets, including those that may be located in the direction of the Sun, a region of sky where ground-based optical telescopes have a harder time searching.