Wide-Field InfraRed Survey Telescope (WFIRST) 2.4-meter mission study

Aaron, Kim M.; Alplanalp, L.; Anderson, Kevin R.; Capps, R. W.; Chang, Zenghu; Dooley, J.; Egerman, Robert; Goullioud, Renaud; Klein, Dan; Kruk, J. W.; Kuan, Gary M.; Melton, M.; Ruffa, J.; Underhill, M.J.; Buren, D. van

doi:10.1117/12.2027717

Cited by 19 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 5 publications

(4 reference statements)

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“…The IFC-S consists of 352 spectral bins the full set up of which, including wavelength ranges and point-spread function (PSF) FWHM values, is listed within Table A1 of Appendix A. The resolution of the IFC-S is based on the design described within Content et al (2013), but with two recent modifications: the extension of the IFC-S blue-wards of 6000Å to 4200Å, and the use of H4RG detectors which affect the pixel scale. The PSF FWHM values presented were calculated using an Airy disc approximation for each bin.…”

Section: Papermentioning

confidence: 99%

Simulations of the WFIRST Supernova Survey and Forecasts of Cosmological Constraints

Hounsell

Scolnic

Foley

et al. 2018

ApJ

174

147

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The Wide Field InfraRed Survey Telescope (WFIRST) was the highest ranked large space-based mission of the 2010 New Worlds, New Horizons decadal survey. It is now a NASA mission in formulation with a planned launch in the mid-2020's. A primary mission objective is to precisely constrain the nature of dark energy through multiple probes, including Type Ia supernovae. Here, we present the first realistic simulations of the WFIRST SN survey based on current hardware specifications and using open-source tools. We simulate SN light curves and spectra as viewed by the WFIRST wide-field channel (WFC) imager and integral field channel (IFC) spectrometer, respectively. We examine 11 survey strategies with different time allocations between the WFC and IFC, two of which are based upon the strategy described by the WFIRST Science Definition Team, which measures SN distances exclusively from IFC data. We apply selection criteria and analysis methods based on recent SN cosmological analyses. We propagate statistical and, crucially, systematic uncertainties to predict the dark energy task force figure of merit (DETF FoM) for each strategy. The increase in FoM values with SN search area is limited by the overhead times for each exposure, and the dependence of the FoM on the maximum redshift is limited by the parameterisation of dark energy. For IFC-focused strategies the largest individual systematic uncertainty is the wavelength-dependent calibration uncertainty, whereas for WFC-focused strategies, it is the intrinsic scatter uncertainty. We consider the impact of potential reductions to each systematic uncertainty before launch, resulting in a range of FoMs for each strategy. We find that the best IFC-focused and WFCexclusive strategies have comparable FoM values. Even without improvements to other cosmological probes, the WFIRST SN survey has the potential to increase the FoM by more than an order of magnitude from the current values. Although the survey strategies presented here have not been fully optimised, these initial investigations are an important step in the development of the final hardware design and implementation of the WFIRST mission.

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Section: Papermentioning

confidence: 99%

Simulations of the WFIRST Supernova Survey and Forecasts of Cosmological Constraints

Hounsell

Scolnic

Foley

et al. 2018

ApJ

174

147

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“…This capability will enable it to capture more of the sky with less observing time. This is also possible due to slitless spectroscopy done with the grism, which will allow the surveying of a large section of the sky to measure spectra of bright galaxies and redshift to allow three dimensional surveys [1].…”

Section: The Wfirst Grism Prototypementioning

confidence: 99%

Infrared Testing of the Wide-Field InfraRed Survey Telescope grism using Computer Generated Holograms

Dominguez

Gong

Griesmann

et al. 2017

Optical Design and Fabrication 2017 (Freeform, IODC, OFT)

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“…The Roman Space Telescope (formerly WFIRST) is a second 2.4-m telescope set for launch in 2025 [ 3 ]. Its much larger 0.28 square degree field of view is to be imaged by HgCdTe arrays with 0.11 arcsec pixels, providing resolution and sensitivity in the near infrared like that of WFC3/IR.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A 20 m wide-field diffraction-limited telescope

Eads

Angel

2020

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A.

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A 20 m space telescope is described with an unvignetted 1° field of view—a hundred times larger in area than fields of existing space telescopes. Its diffraction-limited images are a hundred times sharper than from wide-field ground-based telescopes and extend over much if not all the field, 40 arcmin diameter at 500 nm wavelength, for example. The optical system yielding a 1°, 1.36 m diameter image at f/3.9 has relatively small central obscuration, 9% by area on axis, and is fully baffled. Several carousel-mounted instruments can each access directly the full image. The initial instrument complement includes a 400 gigapixel silicon imager with 2 µm pixels (0.005 arcsec), and a 60 gigapixel HgCdTe imager with 5 µm pixels (0.012 arcsec). A multi-object spectrograph with 10 000 fibres will allow spectroscopy with 0.02 arcsec resolution. Direct imaging and spectroscopy of exoplanets can take advantage of the un-aberrated, on-axis image (5 nm RMS wavefront error). While this telescope could be built for operation in free space, a site accessible to a human outpost at the Moon's south pole would be advantageous, for assembly and repairs. The lunar site would allow also for the installation of new instruments to keep up with evolving scientific priorities and advancing technology. Cooling to less than 100E K would be achieved with a surrounding cylindrical thermal shield. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘Astronomy from the Moon: the next decades’.

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Wide-Field InfraRed Survey Telescope (WFIRST) 2.4-meter mission study

Cited by 19 publications

References 5 publications

Simulations of the WFIRST Supernova Survey and Forecasts of Cosmological Constraints

Simulations of the WFIRST Supernova Survey and Forecasts of Cosmological Constraints

Infrared Testing of the Wide-Field InfraRed Survey Telescope grism using Computer Generated Holograms

A 20 m wide-field diffraction-limited telescope

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