NASA completes solar-array tests for asteroid-hunting spacecraft

(SpaceEnergy) NASA has confirmed completion of functional and performance testing of the solar array integrated into its NEO Surveyor spacecraft's sunshade, advancing the mission's 2kW electrical power system towards launch.

The agency announced on 26 October that engineers had completed testing of the power-generating array following its integration with the spacecraft's sunshade at BAE Systems Space & Mission Systems in Boulder, Colorado.

The 6m-tall sunshade incorporates 864 interconnected solar cells across two flat panels positioned at a 23.5-degree angle.

The array is designed to generate up to 2kW of electricity, providing the spacecraft's sole source of electrical power and charging its onboard batteries.

Unlike conventional spacecraft solar arrays, the panels form part of a structure that also shields the mission's infrared telescope from direct sunlight.

NASA said the sunshade was manufactured by Applied Aerospace in Stockton, California, before SolAero Technologies installed the solar cells in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in January 2026.

Environmental testing of the combined structure was completed at a thermal-vacuum facility in El Segundo, California, in March.

The assembly was delivered to BAE Systems in May, where engineers subsequently integrated Sun sensors and temperature sensors and completed the solar array's functional and performance tests.

NASA did not disclose the precise date of the latest tests or measured electrical output.

NEO Surveyor will operate near the Sun-Earth L1 Lagrange point, approximately 1.5 million kilometres from Earth, searching for potentially hazardous asteroids and comets.