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Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) Interim ReportThe New Worlds, New Horizons (NWNH) in Astronomy and Astrophysics 2010 Decadal Survey prioritized the community consensus for ground-based and space-based observatories. Recognizing that many of the community s key questions could be answered with a wide-field infrared survey telescope in space, and that the decade would be one of budget austerity, WFIRST was top ranked in the large space mission category. In addition to the powerful new science that could be accomplished with a wide-field infrared telescope, the WFIRST mission was determined to be both technologically ready and only a small fraction of the cost of previous flagship missions, such as HST or JWST. In response to the top ranking by the community, NASA formed the WFIRST Science Definition Team (SDT) and Project Office. The SDT was charged with fleshing out the NWNH scientific requirements to a greater level of detail. NWNH evaluated the risk and cost of the JDEM-Omega mission design, as submitted by NASA, and stated that it should serve as the basis for the WFIRST mission. The SDT and Project Office were charged with developing a mission optimized for achieving the science goals laid out by the NWNH re-port. The SDT and Project Office opted to use the JDEM-Omega hardware configuration as an initial start-ing point for the hardware implementation. JDEM-Omega and WFIRST both have an infrared imager with a filter wheel, as well as counter-dispersed moderate resolution spectrometers. The primary advantage of space observations is being above the Earth's atmosphere, which absorbs, scatters, warps and emits light. Observing from above the atmosphere enables WFIRST to obtain precision infrared measurements of the shapes of galaxies for weak lensing, infrared light-curves of supernovae and exoplanet microlensing events with low systematic errors, and infrared measurements of the H hydrogen line to be cleanly detected in the 1
Document ID
20120003865
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Other
Authors
Green, J. (Colorado Univ. Boulder, CO, United States)
Schechter, P. (Massachusetts Inst. of Tech. Cambridge, MA, United States)
Baltay, C. (Yale Univ. New Haven, CT, United States)
Bean, R. (Cornell Univ. Ithaca, NY, United States)
Bennett, D. (Notre Dame Univ. IN, United States)
Brown, R. (Space Telescope Science Inst. Baltimore, MD, United States)
Conselice, C. (Nottingham Univ. Loughborough, United Kingdom)
Donahue, M. (Michigan State Univ. East Lansing, MI, United States)
Gaudi, S. (Ohio State Univ. Columbus, OH, United States)
Lauer, T. (National Optical Astronomy Observatories Tucson, AZ, United States)
Perlmutter, S. (California Univ., Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. Berkeley, CA, United States)
Rauscher, B. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Rhodes, J. (Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Roellig, T. (NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Field, CA, United States)
Stern, D. (Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Sumi, T. (Osaka Univ. Osaka, Japan)
Gerhels, N. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Sambruna, R. (NASA Headquarters Washington, DC United States)
Barry, R. K. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Content, D. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Grady, K (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Jackson, C. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Kruk, J. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Melton, M. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Rioux, N. (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Date Acquired
August 25, 2013
Publication Date
July 7, 2011
Subject Category
Astronomy
Report/Patent Number
GSFC.JA.5730.2011
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.

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