NASA's WFIRST spacecraft offers a huge step forward in our understanding of dark matter
Tomasz Nowakowski, Astrowatch.Net
WFIRST will survey large areas of the sky measuring the effects of dark matter on the distribution of galaxies in the universe. It will provide a huge step forward in our understanding of dark matter and dark energy, Brooke Hsu of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. All told, more than a billion galaxies will be observed by WFIRST, Hsu revealed. More than 2,000 supernovae will be observed, Hsu said. WFI will provide the wide-field imaging and slitless spectroscopic capabilities required to perform the dark energy, exoplanet microlensing, and near-infrared (NIR) surveys while the coronagraph instrument is being designed for the exoplanet high contrast imaging and spectroscopic science.