Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope WFIRST To Be Launched in 2020s

Summary: The Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope WFIRST, slated for launching in 2020s, is designed for 100 times the area covered by Hubble Space Telescope.

NASA's Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) will carry a Wide Field Instrument for capturing Hubble-quality images of large swaths of sky to enable cosmic evolution studies. WFIRST's Coronagraph Instrument will directly image exoplanets and study their atmospheres; credit NASA/GSFC/Conceptual Image Lab: "NASA Introduces New, Wider Set of Eyes on the Universe," NASA news release, Feb. 18, 2016, Generally not subject to copyright in the United States, via NASA

Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) views on the universe are going to be 100 times bigger than those of the Hubble Space Telescope, according to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

An astrophysics mission “designed to help unlock the secrets of the universe” becomes reality after approval Feb. 17, 2016, by the NASA Agency Program Management Council. John Grunsfeld, astronaut and associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C., considers cosmic evolution, dark energy, dark matter and habitable exoplanets unravelable mysteries. He deems that “WFIRST has the potential to open our eyes to the wonders of the universe, much the same way Hubble has” and even more. He expects WFIRST to "discover and characterize planets beyond our own solar system with the sensitivity and optics to look wide and deep into the universe."

Paul Hertz, NASA Astrophysics Division director, finds that “The coronagraph will provide revolutionary science, capturing the faint, but direct images of distant gaseous worlds and super-Earths.”

The Wide Field Instrument gives WFIRST “the ability to capture a single image with the depth and quality of Hubble, but covering 100 times the area.” The WFIRST Coronagraph Instrument helps the Wide Field Instrument by blocking stellar glare, exposing faint planetary light, measuring planetary atmospheric chemistry and revealing planetary atmospheric physics. Instrumentation on the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope WFIRST intends to expedite the search for exoplanets in the crowded central region of the Milky Way Galaxy.

WFIRST joins the Kepler space observatory, ongoing since 2009, and the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite scheduled for 2017, in identifying Earth-sized exoplanets Earth-distanced from their stars.

Dominic Benford, NASA Program Scientist, and Neil Gehrels, WFIRST Project Scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, keep the press current on WFIRST. They list one of two telescopes, acquired from the National Reconnaissance Office in 2012 and including 2.4-meter (7.87-foot) mirrors, for WFIRST's Astrophysics Focused Telescope Assets (AFTA). Scientists Benford and Gehrels mention that “WFIRST-AFTA will perform excellent observations related to dark energy” since the latter-mentioned pressure apparently accelerates the expansion of the universe. They note that WFIRST-AFTA will observe “supernovae, baryon acoustic oscillations, weak lensing, redshift-space distortions, and the formation of galaxy clusters” to measure dark matter as well.

Dark matter, compared to visible matter, operates in the universe as “an as-yet-unidentified form of matter whose presence can be determined only through its gravitational effects.”

The expected launching of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) in 2018 paves the way for the WFIRST launch date, currently slated for the mid 2020s.

Scientists Benford and Gehrels qualify differences between the complementary telescopes as “WFIRST-AFTA’s view of the cosmos is wide and shallow, while JWST’s is narrow and deep." They reveal that "The wide-field survey performed by WFIRST-AFTA will cover 200 times the sky area of the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field" that images the constellation Fornax. They state that "JWST will take images and spectra 100 times more sensitive than Hubble” and the European Space Agency's Euclid mission will observe "more" sky. They think that WFIRST-AFTA's "state-of-the-art measurements" in particular will reveal dark energy's and dark matter's effects "from the present day back more than 10 billion years."

layout of the coronagraph elements inside WFIRST's serviceable module; credit NASA/Goddard Spaceflight Center: Generally not subject to copyright in the United States, via NASA Goddard Space Flight Center WFIRST

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

NASA's Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) will carry a Wide Field Instrument for capturing Hubble-quality images of large swaths of sky to enable cosmic evolution studies. WFIRST's Coronagraph Instrument will directly image exoplanets and study their atmospheres; credit NASA/GSFC/Conceptual Image Lab: "NASA Introduces New, Wider Set of Eyes on the Universe," NASA news release, Feb. 18, 2016, Generally not subject to copyright in the United States, via NASA @ http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-introduces-new-wider-set-of-eyes-on-the-universe;
"PIA20060 WFIRST Artist's Concept," May be used for any purpose without prior permission, via NASA JPL Photojournal @ https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA20060

layout of the coronagraph elements inside WFIRST's serviceable module; credit NASA/Goddard Spaceflight Center: Generally not subject to copyright in the United States, via NASA Goddard Space Flight Center WFIRST @ https://wfirst.gsfc.nasa.gov/observatory.html;
Graham Doskoch, "Here’s what WFIRST will find — if we can save it.," Medium, March 12, 2019, via @ https://medium.com/@Doskoch.Graham/heres-what-wfirst-will-find-if-we-can-save-it-bb61f998f0f

For further information:

Chou, Felicia, and Lynn Chandler. 18 February 2016. "NASA Introduces New, Wider Set of Eyes on the Universe." National Aeronautics and Space Administration > Press Release > WFIRST.
Available @ http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-introduces-new-wider-set-of-eyes-on-the-universe

NASA @NASA. 18 February 2016. "Meet our new telescope! @NASAWFIRST will help unlock the secrets of the universe." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/NASA/status/700360764994011137

NASA Goddard. "Observatory." NASA Goddard Space Flight Center WFIRST > About the Mission.
Available @ https://wfirst.gsfc.nasa.gov/observatory.html

NASA Goddard. 18 February 2016. "WFIRST: The Best of Both Worlds." YouTube.
Available @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbJpVHMV1m4

Reddy, Francis. 19 May 2014. "Q&A Session About NASA's WFIRST Mission." National Aeronautics and Space Administration > WFIRST. Last updated 18 Feb. 2016.
Available @ https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/qa-session-about-nasas-wfirst-mission

RT. 19 February 2016. "NASA to explore wonders of the universe with telescope 100 times bigger than Hubble (VIDEO)." RT > News > America.
Available @ https://www.rt.com/usa/332941-nasa-wfirst-telescope-hubble-universe/