Latest Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer Stories

NASA says its Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer spacecraft called WISE has arrived at its last stop on Earth -- Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The space agency said WISE is scheduled to be launched from Vandenberg in December to scan the entire sky at infrared wavelengths, searching for asteroids, stars and galaxies. WISE has arrived and is almost ready to go, said William Irace, the mission's project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. After we check the...

NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, has arrived at its last stop on Earth -- Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.WISE is scheduled to blast into space in December, aboard a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket from NASA's Space Launch Complex 2. Orbiting around Earth, it will scan the entire sky at infrared wavelengths, unveiling hundreds of thousands of asteroids, and hundreds of millions of stars and galaxies.The spacecraft arrived at Vandenberg along the central California...

BOULDER, Colo., Aug. 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. has successfully completed a comprehensive pre-shipment review for NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE satellite. The pre-shipment review was completed on August 4 and followed assembly and performance testing. Ball Aerospace engineers have packed the satellite into a shipping container for delivery in mid-August to California's Vandenberg Air Force Base. WISE is scheduled to launch...

BOULDER, Colo., July 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. has completed environmental testing for NASA's Widefield Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and has begun post-environmental performance testing. WISE is working to a date of November 1, 2009 for launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. (Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090713/LA45086) WISE environmental testing included thermal vacuum, electromagnetic compatibility,...

The U.S. space agency says its Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer called WISE is undergoing final preparations for a planned Nov. 1 launch. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration mission, to lift off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, will survey the entire sky at infrared wavelengths to create a cosmic clearinghouse of hundreds of millions of objects. Most of the sky has never been imaged at these infrared wavelengths with this kind of sensitivity, said Edward Wright,...

NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, has been assembled and is undergoing final preparations for a planned Nov. 1 launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.The mission will survey the entire sky at infrared wavelengths, creating a cosmic clearinghouse of hundreds of millions of objects -- everything from the most luminous galaxies, to the nearest stars, to dark and potentially hazardous asteroids. The survey will be the most detailed to date in infrared light, with a...

The U.S. space agency says its wide-field infrared survey explorer instrument named WISE is ready to be joined with its satellite for launch later this year. The Space Dynamics Laboratory in North Logan, Utah, the builder of the instrument, said it has shipped WISE to the Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colo., where it will be integrated onto the satellite. The SDL-built WISE instrument will collect millions of images, from which hundreds of millions of astronomical...

It's a tie! The new record-holder for dimmest known star-like object in the universe goes to twin "failed" stars, or brown dwarfs, each of which shines feebly with only one millionth the light of our sun.Previously, astronomers thought the pair of dim bulbs was just one typical, faint brown dwarf with no record-smashing titles. But when NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope observed the brown dwarf with its heat-seeking infrared vision, it was able to accurately measure the object's...

Engineers are rolling up their sleeves in preparation for building a telescope that will find the nearest star-like objects and the brightest galaxies. NASA has approved the start of construction on a new mission called the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, which will scan the entire sky in infrared light."There's a whole infrared sky out there full of surprises," said Dr. Edward Wright, principal investigator for the mission at the University of California, Los Angeles. "By...

LOGAN, Utah (AP) -- Utah State University has secured a $40 million contract with NASA to build an orbiting telescope that will examine galaxies and try to find new stars. The WISE - or Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer - telescope is part of a $208 million NASA mission to update its comprehensive map of the universe. After its scheduled launch in 2008, the telescope will detect infrared light, such as heat radiation, coming from objects currently undetectable. The 1,000-pound device will...