Recently, Epner Technology Inc. was tapped to Laser Gold coat an inner shade component, which will be integrated into the full aperture shade assembly on the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE).
The survey explorer “will scan the entire sky in infrared light, picking up the glow of hundreds of millions of objects and producing millions of images. The mission will uncover objects never seen before, including the coolest stars, the universe’s most luminous galaxies and some of the darkest near-Earth asteroids and comets. Its vast catalogs will help answer fundamental questions about the origins of planets, stars and galaxies, and provide a feast of data for astronomers to munch on for decades to come. Thanks to next-generation technology, WISE’s sensitivity is hundreds of times greater than its predecessor, the Infrared Astronomical Satellite, which operated in 1983 (NASA project overview).”
On Dec. 14th, WISE launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, over the Pacific Ocean, at approximately 6:09 a.m. PST (9:09 a.m. EST). For more information on the mission launch, click on the links below:
