1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:01,000 Music. 2 00:00:11,910 --> 00:00:15,639 Tiffany Nail/NASA's Launch Services Program: Hello, I'm Tiffany Nail. We're going to take you on a journey of discovery about 3 00:00:15,640 --> 00:00:23,706 NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, also known as the WISE space telescope. First, here's more about the mission. 4 00:00:25,190 --> 00:00:28,689 Peter Eisenhardt/WISE Project Scientist: There's this basic need that people have to know what is out there, 5 00:00:28,690 --> 00:00:31,756 to understand what the universe is made up of. 6 00:00:33,270 --> 00:00:36,556 George Diller/NASA Public Affairs: Have you ever wondered how scientists and astronomers find massive stellar creations, 7 00:00:38,050 --> 00:00:43,716 millions of light years away, in the darkest and most isolated areas of the universe? 8 00:00:43,960 --> 00:00:44,226 The WISE space telescope will be poised to explore the entire sky through infrared eyes, 9 00:00:49,560 --> 00:00:49,613 searching for dimmer heavenly bodies that populate the space between the brighter planets and the stars. 10 00:00:56,440 --> 00:00:59,606 Ned Wright/WISE Principal Investigator: So, we're taking pictures in the infrared. And by taking multiple pictures, 11 00:01:00,940 --> 00:01:01,450 we're going to cover the whole sky. So, we'll get images of the whole sky in the infrared. 12 00:01:06,430 --> 00:01:14,230 We'll be able to see stars near the sun that haven't been seen yet because they're too cool to radiate optical light. 13 00:01:14,830 --> 00:01:16,699 George Diller/NASA Public Affairs: The telescope will take an image every 14 00:01:16,700 --> 00:01:22,500 11 seconds and will photograph nearly 1,500,000 pictures in the first six months alone. 15 00:01:23,820 --> 00:01:26,079 Ned Wright/WISE Principal Investigator: With all these images we'll stitch them together to 16 00:01:26,080 --> 00:01:29,613 make an image atlas of the entire sky and figure out, 17 00:01:30,200 --> 00:01:37,066 you know, what objects are on there and make a catalog. And we expect to see about 300 million objects. 18 00:01:37,710 --> 00:01:40,809 George Diller/NASA Public Affairs: Although there are other telescopes with infrared capabilities, 19 00:01:40,810 --> 00:01:43,543 WISE is hundreds of times more sensitive. 20 00:01:44,300 --> 00:01:46,553 Bill Irace/WISE Project Manager: The last time this was done, it was 1983. 21 00:01:46,980 --> 00:01:51,113 It was a project called IRAS, Infrared Astronomical Satellite. 22 00:01:51,340 --> 00:01:51,993 It was the first time we actually had barely enough technology to do something like this. 23 00:01:56,620 --> 00:01:59,860 Ned Wright/WISE Principal Investigator: To go back to the previous mission that did an all-sky survey, 24 00:02:00,180 --> 00:02:03,446 they only had 62 pixels total in their camera and 25 00:02:04,780 --> 00:02:09,580 WISE we have 4 megapixel arrays. So, that's a total of 4 million pixels. 26 00:02:11,820 --> 00:02:14,660 Bill Irace/WISE Project Manager: Most of us when we go to buy a digital camera these days, 27 00:02:14,980 --> 00:02:19,113 we look for megapixels -- 8, 10, 20 -- and IRAS had 62 pixels. 28 00:02:23,970 --> 00:02:26,269 George Diller/NASA Public Affairs: Compared to the massive Hubble Space Telescope, 29 00:02:26,270 --> 00:02:31,336 WISE is smaller and sees a different kind of light from what Hubble can see. 30 00:02:31,740 --> 00:02:34,036 Peter Eisenhardt/WISE Project Scientist: We have only fairly crude maps of the universe at other wavelengths, particularly in the infrared. 31 00:02:38,710 --> 00:02:45,310 And so there could be big objects, very interesting objects, that are out there, maybe not very far 32 00:02:46,550 --> 00:02:46,990 away -- that if we could just look in the right place in the infrared, we would find them. 33 00:02:52,110 --> 00:02:55,050 George Diller/NASA Public Affairs: With the millions of images WISE will send back to Earth, 34 00:02:55,370 --> 00:02:56,650 scientists will be able to study the mysterious dark energy that is responsible for the acceleration of the universe. 35 00:03:01,890 --> 00:03:02,020 WISE will also generate the most complete record of dark objects in the cosmos, like vast dust clouds, 36 00:03:08,560 --> 00:03:14,160 brown dwarf stars and even large, nearby asteroids that could pose a threat to Earth 37 00:03:14,270 --> 00:03:15,579 Peter Eisenhardt/WISE Project Scientist: Some of them could be very close. 38 00:03:15,580 --> 00:03:17,450 Some of them might even be closer than any star we know about now. 39 00:03:18,110 --> 00:03:19,043 And to me, it seems like we ought to know what is out there, what our next door neighbor is. 40 00:03:23,310 --> 00:03:25,303 And maybe even a star that has planets around it -- so that would be the nearest planetary system beyond the solar system. 41 00:03:29,450 --> 00:03:30,463 That would be something worth knowing about. 42 00:03:31,370 --> 00:03:33,609 Ned Wright/WISE Principal Investigator: Where WISE is really going to pay off is in 43 00:03:33,610 --> 00:03:33,690 measuring the infrared radiation from asteroids, 44 00:03:36,730 --> 00:03:45,463 whereas previous studies of asteroids have primarily been only in reflected light. And some asteroids are really very black – so, 45 00:03:47,220 --> 00:03:51,686 blacker than coal -- and so, they do not reflect much light at all. 46 00:03:51,700 --> 00:03:51,916 And so what WISE will be able to do is provide the infrared radiation. 47 00:03:56,150 --> 00:03:56,156 With the infrared radiation we can determine how big the asteroid is. And with that we can know how big these asteroids are, 48 00:04:04,410 --> 00:04:04,753 some of which are potentially hazardous to the Earth. 49 00:04:07,600 --> 00:04:14,066 So, the ones that are in orbits close to the Earth's orbit, you know, could in the future hit us. 50 00:04:14,190 --> 00:04:17,236 George Diller/NASA Public Affairs: WISE might even find the most luminous galaxies in the universe, 51 00:04:17,810 --> 00:04:23,010 some so far away that their light has taken 11.5 billion years to reach Earth. 52 00:04:24,470 --> 00:04:28,870 The WISE telescope is targeted to launch in December 2009 aboard a 53 00:04:29,050 --> 00:04:34,650 United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. 54 00:04:34,910 --> 00:04:41,043 The Delta II will place the spacecraft into a polar orbit several hundred miles above Earth. 55 00:04:41,100 --> 00:04:41,993 The launch is being directed by NASA's Launch Services Program based at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. 56 00:04:47,140 --> 00:04:51,140 The LSP team routinely launches from Kennedy and Vandenberg. 57 00:04:52,750 --> 00:04:56,169 Tiffany Nail/NASA Launch Services Program: Here now with more about the WISE mission is Armando Piloto, 58 00:04:56,170 --> 00:04:56,340 NASA KSC mission manager. Armando, thanks for joining us. 59 00:04:59,800 --> 00:05:01,729 Armando Piloto/LSP & WISE Mission Manager: It's great to be here, Tiffany. 60 00:05:01,730 --> 00:05:04,800 Tiffany Nail/NASA Launch Services Program: Armando, what do you do as a KSC mission manager for WISE? 61 00:05:05,460 --> 00:05:07,799 Armando Piloto/LSP & WISE Mission Manager: Well, Tiffany, as a mission manager for WISE, 62 00:05:07,800 --> 00:05:12,800 I've been responsible for managing the process of integrating a very unique 63 00:05:13,710 --> 00:05:22,443 spacecraft -- WISE -- to the Delta II rocket. So, in essence, my job is to ensure that the rocket and the spacecraft come together, 64 00:05:22,790 --> 00:05:30,590 and when they do that they're compatible with each other and that they will both function successfully during flight. 65 00:05:30,630 --> 00:05:32,899 Tiffany Nail/NASA Launch Services Program: Were there any challenges for this mission? 66 00:05:32,900 --> 00:05:34,939 Armando Piloto/LSP & WISE Mission Manager: Definitely. There were significant challenges, 67 00:05:34,940 --> 00:05:35,170 like in many other NASA missions that we fly. 68 00:05:37,710 --> 00:05:45,510 This particular mission, the spacecraft uses a cryostat to keep the telescope at extremely low temperatures in space. 69 00:05:46,910 --> 00:05:54,643 From a grounds operation perspective, this cryostat before it launches it has to be maintained cool 24/7 at the pad. 70 00:05:55,900 --> 00:05:57,176 So, the combination of keeping this cryostat cool in conjunction with all of the different rocket activities that are going on, 71 00:06:03,090 --> 00:06:10,756 created numerous logistic and operational challenges for our mission. We found out about this early on in the flow, 72 00:06:11,120 --> 00:06:14,253 so we dedicated a team to go work this problem. 73 00:06:14,300 --> 00:06:15,443 And the team did a great job, and they have come up with solutions. So we have processes, 74 00:06:19,090 --> 00:06:19,130 procedures and resources in place to make sure that we can process the cryostat successfully. 75 00:06:25,250 --> 00:06:28,430 Tiffany Nail/NASA Launch Services Program: How long did it take to get this mission from concept to launch? 76 00:06:29,270 --> 00:06:30,340 Armando Piloto/LSP & WISE Mission Manager: We started working on WISE back in the 2003-2004 timeframe. 77 00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:35,596 Early on we did a lot of different trace studies to find a good launch vehicle solution for WISE. 78 00:06:40,870 --> 00:06:44,870 We looked at a Deep Impact mission, which is a dual mission. 79 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:45,890 We looked at different vehicles and we found out that the Delta II was the appropriate match. 80 00:06:50,310 --> 00:06:51,220 So, it's been about six years, and I know the team has done a lot of work to get to this flow 81 00:06:55,600 --> 00:06:56,543 and we're definitely very excited about the upcoming launch of the WISE mission. 82 00:06:59,990 --> 00:07:01,729 Tiffany Nail/NASA Launch Services Program: How will WISE be launched and why 83 00:07:01,730 --> 00:07:02,293 are we launching from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California? 84 00:07:05,300 --> 00:07:08,666 Armando Piloto/LSP & WISE Mission Manager: WISE will be launched aboard a Delta II vehicle out of Vandenberg. 85 00:07:09,200 --> 00:07:17,466 The reason is because the spacecraft has a requirement to be placed in a polar orbit so that they can conduct their science. 86 00:07:17,810 --> 00:07:18,103 So from a launch vehicle perspective, we can get spacecraft to the polar orbit more efficiently by launching out of the west coast. 87 00:07:26,250 --> 00:07:28,316 We could do this mission out of the east coast, but it would take significant more performance from the Delta II vehicle. 88 00:07:32,250 --> 00:07:36,383 So, that's why we have selected Vandenberg as the launch site. 89 00:07:36,730 --> 00:07:38,449 Tiffany Nail/NASA Launch Services Program: Armando, thanks for joining us. 90 00:07:38,450 --> 00:07:39,859 Armando Piloto/LSP & WISE Mission Manager: Thank you. 91 00:07:39,860 --> 00:07:41,579 Tiffany Nail/NASA Launch Services Program: For more information about the Wide-field 92 00:07:41,580 --> 00:07:44,846 Infrared Survey Explorer go to www.nasa.gov/WISE. 93 00:07:48,100 --> 00:07:54,766 Or, you can see the launch as it happens on NASA TV or nasa.gov. For NASA's Launch Services Program, 94 00:07:55,150 --> 00:07:55,256 I'm Tiffany Nail. Thanks for joining us.