Talk:NEOSTEL

A Commons file used on this page has been nominated for speedy deletion

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page has been nominated for speedy deletion:

ESA Flyeye Telescope Lightpath.jpg

You can see the reason for deletion at the file description page linked above. —Community Tech bot (talk) 15:51, 10 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

ESA have made this image publicly available I have written to them to ask for it to be also issued under Creative Commons as this particular image shows the lightpath into the telescope, illustrating the novel feature of the design.--Rafflesgluft (talk) 10:34, 11 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Current status

@Fritzmann2002: You've recently tagged the article as needing an update, and I agree. From 14 February 2017 until an unknown date between 31 March[1] and 7 May 2018,[2] the ESA website stated that[3]

In mid-2014, ESA signed a contract for about €1 million with a consortium led by CGS S.p.A (Italy), comprising Creotech Instruments S.A. (Poland), SC EnviroScopY SRL (Romania) and Pro Optica S.A. (Romania) for the detailed design of the advanced telescope. The first fly-eye telescope is expected to begin operating around 2018.

At that point, the last sentence was changed to

The first Flyeye telescope is expected to be ready for installation at its final location on Mount Mufara in Sicily at the end of 2019.

Note that begin operating and be ready for installation are not the same thing.

That version remained online until at least 20 May 2024.[4] It has again been updated at some point between June and November 2024, and the website now says:[5]

The development of the first-generation ‘Flyeye-1’ telescope began in 2016, when ESA signed a contract with a European consortium led by OHB Italy. [...]
The telescope will undergo final testing and validation at the Italian Space Agency’s (ASI) Centre for Space Geodesy in the city of Matera, Italy, in late 2024 and early 2025. [...]
The site and access road required for the construction of the observatory was made available by ASI. Construction began in June 2024 and is expected to be completed by the end of 2025, in time for the telescope’s arrival. [...]
ESA has already begun the development of the second generation ‘Flyeye-2’ telescope that will offer even greater asteroid detection capabilities while maintaining a wide field of view. ‘Flyeye-2’ is expected to be deployed in the southern hemisphere by 2028.

This website still gives the original date (14 February 2017), which clearly doesn't reflect all the updates that have been made since then. The same text is also shared on the relatively new project website [6]. That website is not dated, so I don't know exactly when it went online, but it cannot be older than a few months.

The most recent status update sounds to me like Flyeye-1 is expected to be installed in late 2025, but ESA gives no date for first light, and no date for the beginning of science operations. Considering each of those usually take a few months, I guess the telescope should be operational by 2026. Considering their history of last minute delays (Flyeye-1 is currently eight years behind what their plan was seven years ago), this announcement probably shouldn't be taken as definitive.

The southern hemisphere counterpart Flyeye-2 is expected to be deployed by 2028, which I think is meant to be the date of installation. I don't think a selection for the location of Flyeye-2 has been made. A pre-print published on 3 September 2024 seems to argue for La Silla, Chile, although South Africa or a second site in the Northern hemisphere are still possible.[7] Renerpho (talk) 13:27, 8 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Renerpho, thanks for the message; I'm certainly not an expert but found myself on this page and wondering what had happened to the project over the intervening five years since the last content update. It sounds like adding the new information is in capable hands, but please feel free to ping me again if you'd like a second set of eyes on anything. Fritzmann (message me) 13:33, 8 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Fritzmann2002: Maybe I'll find time to work on this next week. I'll try not to forget about it! Renerpho (talk) 13:34, 8 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]