WISE (space telescope)

WISE (space telescope)
Name	WISE
Mission type	Infrared space telescope
Operator	NASA
Manufacturer	Ball Aerospace
Launch date	2009-12-14
Launch vehicle	Delta II
Launch site	Cape Canaveral Space Force Station
Orbit	Sun-synchronous polar
Instruments	Infrared array camera

WISE (space telescope) was a NASA infrared survey satellite that mapped the entire sky in mid-infrared wavelengths, enabling discoveries across planetary science, stellar astronomy, and extragalactic research. Built by Ball Aerospace and managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, it complemented missions such as Spitzer Space Telescope, IRAS, Akari, and Herschel Space Observatory. The mission produced all-sky catalogs used by teams at institutions including the California Institute of Technology, University of Arizona, Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, and the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy.

Overview

WISE was conceived under directives from NASA and selected in the Small Explorer-class program to perform an all-sky survey in four infrared bands, enabling follow-up by facilities like Keck Observatory, Very Large Telescope, Atacama Large Millimeter Array, and Hubble Space Telescope. The mission goal emphasized infrared detection of Near-Earth Objects, brown dwarfs such as those later associated with teams at University of California, Berkeley and JPL, and luminous infrared galaxies related to studies by Sloan Digital Sky Survey and Two Micron All-Sky Survey. WISE operated within the broader context of space missions including Galileo (spacecraft), Cassini–Huygens, and planetary surveys coordinated with Minor Planet Center activities.

Mission design and instruments

WISE carried a 40 cm telescope with a cryogenically cooled focal plane array built by contractors at Ball Aerospace and detectors supplied by groups connected to NASA Glenn Research Center and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The instrument suite included four imaging bands designed to follow the heritage of detectors used in Spitzer Space Telescope and concepts tested on COBE. Cryogenic cooling used solid hydrogen, akin to techniques developed for IRAS and Akari. Science teams from Caltech, University of Hawaii, University of Cambridge, and the Space Telescope Science Institute developed data pipelines and calibration tied to standards such as the International Astronomical Union photometric systems.

Launch, orbit, and operations

WISE launched aboard a Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on 14 December 2009, inserted into a Sun-synchronous polar orbit similar to operational regimes used by Landsat and Terra (satellite). The mission operations team at JPL coordinated scanning, pointing, and telemetry, while science operations interfaced with archives at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center and the NASA/IPAC facility. Routine survey operations were planned to last for six months of cryogenic mission life, with mission management overseen by NASA Headquarters and external review from panels that included representatives from National Science Foundation-funded institutions.

Survey data and discoveries

WISE produced the All-Sky Release and the subsequent AllWISE catalogues, enabling vast discoveries: thousands of candidate Near-Earth Objects tracked with follow-up at Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex and observatories such as Palomar Observatory and Mount Palomar. It discovered cool brown dwarfs later studied by teams at University of California, Los Angeles, University of Texas at Austin, and the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, prompting comparisons with models from Geneva Observatory and University of Arizona groups. WISE identified ultra-luminous infrared galaxies studied in synergy with Sloan Digital Sky Survey spectroscopy, and contributed to active galactic nucleus surveys overlapping with Chandra X-ray Observatory and XMM-Newton. Planetary science yielded discoveries of cometary activity linked to objects cataloged by the Minor Planet Center, and detections of debris disks that informed studies by groups at University of Maryland and University of Colorado Boulder.

Post-cryogenic NEOWISE mission

After cryogen exhaustion, the spacecraft was repurposed for the NEOWISE program to detect and characterize Near-Earth Objects, operated by teams at JPL, IPAC, and the Planetary Science Institute. NEOWISE, coordinated with NASA Planetary Defense Coordination Office objectives, provided thermal infrared measurements used to estimate diameters and albedos of asteroids cataloged by the Minor Planet Center and to support hazard assessments alongside radar teams at Arecibo Observatory and Goldstone. Subsequent funding cycles extended NEOWISE operations, enabling long-term surveys compared with ground-based campaigns like Pan-STARRS and Catalina Sky Survey.

Data processing and archives

Data calibration, image processing, and source extraction were conducted at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center and archived at NASA/IPAC Infrared Science Archive, with catalog distribution coordinated with the NASA Exoplanet Archive and scientific use groups at Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and Caltech. The AllWISE and NEOWISE data products, including coadds and time-resolved catalogs, have been integrated into cross-matched databases such as those maintained by Sloan Digital Sky Survey teams and the Vizier service at the Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg. Publications using WISE data have appeared in journals like The Astrophysical Journal, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, and Astronomy & Astrophysics, and continue to inform missions including James Webb Space Telescope follow-up and planning for future infrared missions like SPHEREx.

Category:NASA space telescopes Category:Infrared telescopes Category:2009 in spaceflight