NASA's NEO Surveyor: Space-based asteroid detection and infrared pollination signals in cycads

In this Science Magazine episode, Robin Andrews explains NASA's Near-Earth Object Surveyor, a space-based telescope that will detect large asteroids hiding in the Sun’s glare by observing infrared radiation, improving planetary defense and size estimation. The discussion includes launch timing, orbital position, and the mission’s role in identifying city-killer asteroids with enough warning to consider deflection options. The second segment features Wendy Valencia Montoya, who reports on thermogenic cones in cycads that heat up at night to attract pollinating beetles and cool down to signal them to move to the female cone, aided by a molecular sensor gene, TRPA1, that detects infrared heat.

NASA's NEO Surveyor: Space-based planetary defense

In this segment, Robin Andrews discusses the Near-Earth Object Surveyor, a space-based asteroid hunter designed to identify large objects that could threaten Earth, including those concealed by the Sun's glare. Placed between the Earth and the Sun, the observatory will search in the infrared, which is crucial for accurately sizing asteroids and distinguishing dark bodies from reflective surfaces. Infrared observations allow size estimates down to roughly 10 percent accuracy, a significant improvement over visible-light surveys that can mischaracterize object size. The mission aims to catalog the majority of city-killer scale asteroids, with NASA estimating around 25,000 such objects and only a fraction currently detected from the ground. The project, projected for launch in September 2027 with a planned 12-year lifetime, emphasizes international collaboration and a strong cost-benefit case, roughly $1.2 billion over the mission’s lifetime.

"infrared is king. It will discover all these hidden asteroids, and you’ll get its size down to about 10%" - Robin Andrews

"The cost to benefit ratio for that mission is infinitely high" - Robin Andrews

Ancient heat signals in cycads: infrared pollination cues

The second story shifts to plant biology, where Wendy Valencia Montoya and colleagues study thermogenic cones in cycads, an ancient group of gymnosperms predating flowering plants. Cycads heat their reproductive organs during pollination, emitting infrared radiation that attracts nocturnal beetle pollinators. The heating occurs in a daily cycle: cones heat up at night to draw in beetles, then cool during the day as the female cone heats up, creating a back-and-forth polling dynamic. The team investigated two beetle species and demonstrated that infrared signals, rather than scent alone, can guide beetles to the cones. Through experiments that isolated heat, they confirmed infrared as a reliable pollination cue for nocturnal insects.

At the molecular level, the antennae of pollinating beetles harbor neurons responsive to infrared heat, with the TRPA1 gene identified as a temperature-sensitive sensor. Blocking this gene impaired infrared detection, linking a conserved molecular mechanism to behavior seen in snakes and mosquitoes, illustrating convergent evolution in heat sensing. The research also sheds light on the evolutionary sequence of signals, suggesting heat-based cues were likely an early pollination strategy before the rise of colorful flowers and color vision in pollinators.

"Heat serves as a pollination cue for nocturnal insects, a signaling strategy older than color" - Wendy Valencia Montoya

"We found that the TRPA1 gene is a shared infrared sensor with snakes and mosquitoes, a striking example of convergent evolution" - Wendy Valencia Montoya

Overall, the episode highlights how space-based technology and ancient plant-pollinator interactions illuminate two very different facets of biology and planetary protection, illustrating how human curiosity drives discoveries from the cosmos to the canopy.