WISE Launch Scheduled for Dec. 11

Dec 04, 2009

WISE Launch Scheduled for Dec. 11 — WISE is shown inside one-half of the nose cone, or fairing, that will protect it during launch. The spacecraft is clamped to the top of the rocket above the white conical fitting. The fairing will split open like a clamshell about five minutes after launch. Image credit: United Launch Alliance/ JPL-Caltech

(PhysOrg.com) -- Launch of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California is scheduled for Dec. 11.

Launch and mission managers will gather at Vandenberg today for the Flight Readiness Review to verify the Delta II rocket and its payload are ready for liftoff.

At Vandenberg's Space Launch Complex 2, the spacecraft is safely tucked into in the outer nose cone, or "fairing," that will protect it during its launch and ascent.

The WISE spacecraft will circle Earth over the poles, scanning the entire sky one-and-a-half times in nine months. The mission will uncover hidden cosmic objects, including the coolest stars, dark asteroids and the most luminous galaxies.

More information: NASA's WISE infrared satellite to reveal new galaxies, stars, asteroids

Provided by JPL/NASA (news : web)

Explore further: Curiosity Mars rover drills second rock target

Related Stories

WISE Snug in Its Nose Cone; Launch Set for Dec. 9

Dec 01, 2009

NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer has been wrapped in the outer nose cone, or "fairing," that will protect it during its scheduled Dec. 9 launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.

NASA's WISE Mission Arrives at Launch Site

Aug 17, 2009

(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE, has arrived at its last stop on Earth -- Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.

NASA's Wise Gets Ready to Survey the Whole Sky (w/ Video)

Nov 17, 2009

(PhysOrg.com) -- NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or Wise, is chilled out, sporting a sunshade and getting ready to roll. NASA's newest spacecraft is scheduled to roll to the pad on Friday, Nov. ...

Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer Coming Together

May 20, 2009

(PhysOrg.com) -- The science instrument for NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer has been shipped to Boulder, Colo., for a planned launch in November.

WISE Is Chilling Out

Nov 11, 2009

(PhysOrg.com) -- Engineers are busy cooling the science instrument on NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, or WISE. The spacecraft is scheduled to blast into space from Vandenberg Air Force Base in ...

NASA's WISE infrared satellite to reveal new galaxies, stars, asteroids

Dec 04, 2009

(PhysOrg.com) -- Data from the satellite, says principal investigator and UCLA professor Edward Wright, will help scientists answer fundamental questions about the history of our solar system, the Milky Way ...

Recommended for you

Curiosity Mars rover drills second rock target

6 hours ago

(Phys.org) —NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has used the drill on its robotic arm to collect a powdered sample from the interior of a rock called "Cumberland."

Proba-V opens its eyes

14 hours ago

(Phys.org) —Earth watcher Proba-V is in good health following its launch last week. The Vegetation imager has been switched on and the first image has been captured over western France.

British astronaut 'Major Tim' to fly to ISS

17 hours ago

A former army helicopter pilot was on Monday named as the first "home-grown" British astronaut to head to the International Space Station.

Mice, gerbils perish in Russia space flight

May 19, 2013

A number of mice and eight gerbils sent into space in a Russian capsule destined to find out how well organisms can withstand extended flights perished during their journey, scientists said Sunday as the ...

Field tests in Mojave Desert pave way for human exploration of small bodies

May 18, 2013

(Phys.org) —A team of researchers from the SETI Institute, the Mars Institute, NASA Ames Research Center, and the space robotics company Honeybee Robotics, has successfully completed a first series of field ...

Mars rover Opportunity examines clay clues in rock

May 18, 2013

(Phys.org) —NASA's senior Mars rover, Opportunity, is driving to a new study area after a dramatic finish to 20 months on "Cape York" with examination of a rock intensely altered by water.

User comments : 0

More news stories

The mammoth's lament: Study shows how cosmic impact sparked devastating climate change

(Phys.org) —Herds of wooly mammoths once shook the earth beneath their feet, sending humans scurrying across the landscape of prehistoric Ohio. But then something much larger shook the Earth itself, and ...

Curiosity Mars rover drills second rock target

(Phys.org) —NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has used the drill on its robotic arm to collect a powdered sample from the interior of a rock called "Cumberland."

Amazon River exhales virtually all carbon taken up by rain forest

(Phys.org) —The Amazon rain forest, popularly known as the lungs of the planet, inhales carbon dioxide as it exudes oxygen. Plants use carbon dioxide from the air to grow parts that eventually fall to the ...

NASA builds unusual testbed for analyzing X-ray navigation technologies

Pulsars have a number of unusual qualities. Like zombies, they shine even though they're technically dead, and they rotate rapidly, emitting powerful and regular beams of radiation that are seen as flashes ...

Slow earthquakes: It's all in the rock mechanics

(Phys.org) —Earthquakes that last minutes rather than seconds are a relatively recent discovery, according to an international team of seismologists. Researchers have been aware of these slow earthquakes, ...

Lab sets a new record for creating heralded photons

(Phys.org) —Entanglement, by general consensus of physicists, is the weirdest part of quantum science. To say that two particles, A and B, are entangled means that they are actually two parts of an inseparable ...

Researchers develop method to inkjet print highly conductive, bendable layers of graphene

(Phys.org) —Imagine a bendable tablet computer or an electronic newspaper that could fold to fit in a pocket.

Protein study suggests drug side effects are inevitable

A new study of both computer-created and natural proteins suggests that the number of unique pockets – sites where small molecule pharmaceutical compounds can bind to proteins – is surprisingly small, meaning drug side ...

Parasitic wasps use calcium pump to block fruit fly immunity

Parasitic wasps switch off the immune systems of fruit flies by draining calcium from the flies' blood cells, a finding that offers new insight into how pathogens break through a host's defenses.

Do salamanders hold the solution to regeneration?

Salamanders' immune systems are key to their remarkable ability to regrow limbs, and could also underpin their ability to regenerate spinal cords, brain tissue and even parts of their hearts, scientists have ...