SwRI's integrated avionics control NASA's WISE spacecraft
Monday, December 14, 2009 - 11:28
in Astronomy & Space
NASA's latest spacecraft, the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), launched Dec. 14, carries an ultra-sensitive infrared instrument that will take nearly 1.5 million images of the sky at four wavelengths and provide key scientific data identifying the most luminous galaxies in the universe and the closest stars to the sun. WISE will also measure the diameters of more than 100,000 asteroids, including hundreds of near-Earth objects (NEOs). The spacecraft, built by Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp. and Space Dynamics Laboratory, uses a cryogenically cooled detector that provides hundreds to hundreds of thousands of times greater sensitivity than has been achievable on previous survey missions.