NASA is going bigger and better in its mission to “unlock the secrets of the universe” with a new space telescope, which will provide views of the universe that are 100 times larger than those of the Hubble Space Telescope.
The Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST), expected to launch in the mid-2020s, can capture image with the quality and depth of the Hubble telescope but taking on a much larger and wider expanse of space.
Hopes are pinned for WFIRST, which will survey massive regions of the sky in near-infrared light, to better aid scientists in unraveling the mystery of dark energy and dark matter, as well as discover new planets, galaxies, and worlds outside the solar system.
Eluding researchers for decades, dark matter is invisible yet believed to account for 85 percent of the universe. Thousands of satellite galaxies – which could be buzzing through or around the Milky Way – are believed to be dominated by dark matter.
"WFIRST has the potential to open our eyes to the wonders of the universe, much the same way Hubble has," says John Grunsfeld, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate.
According to Grunsfeld, the mission behind WFIRST combines the ability to discover planets outside the solar system and the sensitivity and optics to probe deep and wide into the universe to solve the puzzle of dark matter.
The Agency Program Management Council of NASA green-lighted the mission last Wednesday, with WFIRST following the launch of the space agency’s James Webb Space Telescope in 2018.
The new telescope will feature a wide-field instrument for surveying the universe, as well as a coronagraph instrument to block the glare from stars and see the faint glow of planets that orbit around them. Blocking a particular starlight will allow the instrument to produce measurements of the chemical composition of those atmospheres.
Using the telescope, researchers can also better search for chemical signs and footprints of life.
The survey of the new exoplanets or planets outside the solar system is also estimated to complement the work by Kepler mission and the forthcoming Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite project.
In the case of the mysterious dark matter, WFIRST can precisely measure the positions, shapes, and distances of galaxies by the millions, tracking the growth and movement of cosmic structures like galaxy clusters and the dark matter that accompanies them.
The new and groundbreaking observatory will start to operate once it travels to the Earth-sun L2, a gravitational balance point situated around a million miles from the planet in a direction running directly opposite the sun.
