Wfirst, the Space Telescope with the Power of 100 Hubbles

The lab I work in at NASA Goddard is doing the detector characterization for WFIRST. There are 18, 4k × 4K detectors in the WFIRST array, for a resolution of about 300 megapixels, as mentioned in the article. The detectors are arranged in an unusual pattern, but I don&#x27;t know what drove that design. I am, at this moment, working on a new fileserver that will be used for WFIRST detector test data. It will start off with a RAID array of just under 1PB and will likely be expanded as we proceed with testing.<p>I&#x27;m hoping this thing launches before I retire, but I&#x27;m not betting on it. JWST keeps eating our budget.

<i>…and the addition of one of the most sensitive coronagraphs ever made…</i><p>I find it interesting that one of the major improvements in this light gathering instrument is a device to physically block light from getting into the instrument.<p>For Earthlings viewing the Sun a chronograph is a disk on a stick to block the Sun&#x27;s surface so you can see the corona.<p>In a space based telescope blocking out a star but not any planets which might be orbiting it becomes complicated. They have intricate computer generated masks designed to block the starlight and the interference patterns created by the edge of the primary mask implemented as mirrors on black silicon.<p>I wasn&#x27;t able to find a published paper on the design, there are several available as abstracts but not viewable by me. This presentation from Caltech covers a lot of it and is probably accessible to people in the field. <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;kiss.caltech.edu&#x2F;special_events&#x2F;JPL_MPIA&#x2F;presentations&#x2F;2_Trauger.pdf" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;kiss.caltech.edu&#x2F;special_events&#x2F;JPL_MPIA&#x2F;presentation...</a><p>My takeaway was that compared to the Hubble, they should be able to block 100 times more starlight relative to the planets and should be able to directly see planets illuminated by their star.

&gt;&quot;found that they had a couple huge telescopes just sitting around in a black-site warehouse somewhere&quot;<p>i don&#x27;t know what is the worse implication, the amount of bureaucracy capable of losing a space telescope or the other technology the NRO and other gov&#x27;t agencies have hidden from the public view

“Despite having the same size mirror as the surprisingly reliable Hubble Space Telescope, clocking in at 2.4 meters across, this puppy will pack a punch with a gigantic 300 megapixel camera, enabling it to snap a single image with an area a hundred times greater than the Hubble.”<p>Sounds like we need to retrofit the camera on the Hubble.<p>As Hubble nears its EOL, maybe some crazy billionaire will come up with a plan to keep it around for another 25 years.

It’s nice to see that the donated NRO satellite buses found a use i remember when they were initially donated everyone cried that NASA didn’t had the budget to make any use of them.<p>I wonder what else do they have lying around, since it’s clear that what they have now is more advanced than what they’ve donated.<p>I also wonder with the advancement in SAR technology how much longer would optical recon sattlites would even be used for because as long as the NRO still uses optical sattlites we have some sort of economy of scale that can be leveraged for cheaper space based telescopes.

I was curious if this would beat James Webb to space, but this is targeted for middle of the 2020s while NASA appears to be pushing for James Webb to get up to space in the next couple years. Fingers crossed!<p>&gt; In testimony before Congress in July 2018, NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine proposed slowing down the development of WFIRST in order to accommodate a cost increase in the James Webb Space Telescope, which would result in decreased funding for WFIRST in 2020&#x2F;2021.<p>Source: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Wide_Field_Infrared_Survey_Telescope" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Wide_Field_Infrared_Survey_Tel...</a>