The European Space Agency just built a bug-eyed telescope to spot asteroids before they hit Earth

The European Space Agency just built a bug-eyed telescope to spot asteroids before they hit Earth.

This clever technology scans the night sky automatically, with no humans needed.

Known as Flyeye 1, it’s been successfully tested, and now Flyeye 2 is already in the works.

It’s a telescope set to help astronomers determine what objects are hurling towards the planet.

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Humans are exploring space all the time.

From NASA to independent startups – new areas of technology are constantly being trialed and transitioned.

For example, the world’s first commercial space station will launch next year. It’s called Vast Haven-1, and it’s like a luxury hotel.

Plus, an American rover is also set to unlock one of the Moon’s greatest unsolved mysteries – exciting, right?

Astronomers in Europe, though, have just revealed something even more exciting – a new telescope that’s ideal for spotting asteroids.

The bug-eyed telescope was announced by the European Space Agency, and it’s inspired by insects.

The agency stated:

“The European Space Agency’s newest planetary defender has opened its ‘eye’ to the cosmos for the first time.

“The Flyeye telescope’s ‘first light’ marks the beginning of a new chapter in how we scan the skies for new near-Earth asteroids and comets.”

And, it’s known as Flyeye, because the concept was inspired by an insect’s eye.

It can capture ‘a region of the sky more than 200 times as large as the full Moon in a single exposure’, which is a lot more than an ordinary telescope, that’s for sure.

Thanks to the extended viewing range, the clever telescope will automatically survey the sky every night without any humans lending a hand.

If successful, the ESA is hoping to build a network of telescopes to scan the galaxy far and wide.

As project manager Ernesto Doelling explained:

“In the future, a network of up to four Flyeye telescopes spread across the northern and southern hemispheres will work together to further improve the speed and completeness of these automatic sky surveys.”

The telescopes will act as an early warning system, and findings from them will be distributed and observed by experts thanks to their clever design.

“ESA’s Near-Earth Object Coordination Centre will verify any potential new asteroid detections made by the Flyeye telescopes and submit the findings to the Minor Planet Center,” according to the ESA statement.

The scope works with a primary mirror that spans one metre, and once light is collected, it is distributed into 16 different channels.

These channels are ‘each equipped with a camera capable of detecting very faint objects,’ which means large areas of the sky can be investigated at once.

The Flyeye 1 has been tested in Italy, and Flyeye 2 is already in the works.

Here’s hoping it all goes to plan!

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