NASA announced the approval of a new astrophysics mission based on a space telescope called WFIRST (Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope). It’s a next-generation Instrument for a long-term project since it will be probably launched around the middle of next decade. It will have a mirror as large as Hubble’s but a field of view a hundred times wider to investigate even better on the secrets of the universe.

The design of a new space telescope is long and complex, the same for its construction. For this reason, NASA has already carried out preparatory studies for another of them while it’s still trying to limit the delays in the construction of the James Webb, whose launch is now scheduled for 2018.

Over the last decade many projects were proposed called Dark Energy Space Telescope (Destiny), Supernova/Acceleration Probe (SNAP) and ADEPT. Subsequently the ideas have been included in a single project originally called Joint Dark Energy Mission (JDEM) that has been developed into WFIRST.

Originally, the WFIRST project included a mirror smaller than the Hubble Space Telescope’s but in 2012 the National Reconnaissance Offic (NRO) donated to NASA two unused spy satellites equipped with a mirror the size of the Hubble’s, which has a diameter of 2.4 meters. On this basis, a concept called WFIRST-AFTA (Astrophysics Focused Telescope Assets) was developed into the mission that has now been approved.

This project is managed bu NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center but the Agency’s other scientific institutions are also involved: Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC), together with other American research centers.

The WFIRST Space Telescope will be equipped with a high resolution camera – 288-megapixel – called Wide-Field Instrument (WFI), which will capture images the same quality as Hubble’s but on an area 100 times larger. A coronagraph will block stars glare when astronomers want to observe exoplanets directly.

The goals of the WFIRST Space Telescope are diverse, from the study of exoplanets and supernovae to cosmology research such as verifications of the theory of relativity and investigations on dark matter and energy. As is becoming increasingly common, its tasks will be conducted along with those of other instruments. In particular, WFIRST and the James Webb Space Telescope are expected to complement each other to make big steps forward in the field of astronomy and astrophysics.