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Most astronomers can only dream of discovering previously unknown stars, galaxies and asteroids that may be on a collision course with Earth. Thanks to a space telescope being designed by Utah State's Space Dynamics Lab, NASA scientists will be able to map the universe in unprecedented detail with infrared detectors that are 500,000 times more sensitive than previous sensors. SDL deputy director Harry Ames says, "With an instrument of this high a resolution, we'll be able to look deeper into space and further back in time than ever before." SDL has three years to build the $40-million telescope for NASA's unmanned satellite, WISE. The mission, scheduled to launch in 2008, will scan the entire sky in infrared light in search of nearby stars that were too dim to be detected before, planetary construction zones, and the brightest, most distant galaxies in the universe. The survey will reveal hundreds of failed stars, or brown dwarfs, some of which may lie closer to the sun than what is currently believed to be the closest, Alpha Centauri. As it scans the cosmos, WISE will assemble an atlas of targets for the James Webb Space Telescope to explore when it is launched as the replacement to the Hubble Telescope. "Hubble was looking at one deer antler in a herd of deer on the hillside," says Ames. "We're going to be looking at the whole deer, and maybe two or three deer next to him." Peter Eisenhardt, project scientist for the mission at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, says, "This mission will complete the basic reconnaissance of the universe in mid-infrared wavelengths, providing a vast storehouse of knowledge that will endure for decades."
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