Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer

NEWS:

21 Jun 2007 - WISE has passed its Mission Critical Design Review, held 18-21 June 2007 at UCLA.

13 Oct 2006 - WISE has been confirmed by NASA headquarters. The launch is scheduled for November 2009.

25 Aug 2004 - WISE has been selected by NASA as its next Medium-Class Explorer. With this decision the WISE mission will proceed into Phase B (Definition Phase). This phase will conclude with a preliminary design review in April 2005. Read the press release and visit our new public Web page.

29 April 2003 - WISE releases a simulated distribution of Brown Dwarfs in the Solar Neighborhood. These data and the viewer are available from our E/PO partner Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History.

20 March 2003 - WISE has been selected for an extended Phase A study leading to a decision in 2004 on whether to proceed with the development of the mission. Read the NASA press release on the MidEx selection.

Science Objectives

WISE will provide an all-sky survey from 3.3 to 23 microns up to 1000 times more sensitive than the IRAS survey.

WISE will

• find the most luminous galaxies in the Universe.
• find the closest stars to the Sun.
• detect most main belt asteroids larger than 3 km.
• extend the 2MASS survey into the thermal infrared.
• enable a wide variety of studies ranging from the evolution of protoplanetary debris disks to the history of star formation in normal galaxies.
• provide the essential catalog for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

Simulated WISE images.

Current WISE Status

This figure shows the 5 sigma point source sensitivities of WISE and previous or planned all-sky surveys. The planned wavelength range for the JWST is indicated. The dot size shows the planned sky coverage. GALEX is a small Explorer (SMEX) which was launched by NASA in 2003, SDSS is the groundbased Sloan Digital Sky Survey, DPOSS is the groundbased Digital Palomar Observatory Sky Survey, ASTRO-F is the Japanese satellite, renamed Akari after launch on 22 Feb 2006, and Planck is the European CMB mission to be launched in 2008 which also includes a good sub-mm survey capability.

Mission Overview

• Direct injection into an IRAS/ COBE-type, circular, 500 km, Sun synchronous polar orbit on a Delta expendable launch vehicle.
• A 6-month mission with a 1-month checkout, and 135% margin on cryogen lifetime.
• A sky-pointing instrument.
• 4 color images of a 47'x47' FOV taken every 11 seconds, synchronized with the orbital motion to provide total sky coverage with overlap between revolutions.
• Proposed launch date is late 2009.

Science Payload

• HgCdTe and Si:As 1024² arrays at 3.3, 4.7, 12 and 23 microns giving 2.75" pixels.
• A two-stage solid-hydrogen cryostat to cool detectors and optics.
• A 40-cm telescope and reimaging optics giving 6" FHWM resolution (diffraction-limited to 12" at 23 microns).
• A scan mirror to stabilize the line-of-sight while the spacecraft scans the sky.

Key Spacecraft Characteristics

Mission Management