The world that we can observe either with the naked middle or with tech is a very small fraction of the whole . The challenge , then , is to see the unseeable .

NASA is rising to that challenge withWFIRST(Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope ) , a next - generation infrared space observatory , which will hopefully answer   crucial query about the consequence of dark vigor on the distribution of galaxies in the universe when it launches in the mid-2020s .

Last February , NASA pick out two manufacture pardner   –   Ball Aerospace and Lockheed Martin Advance Technology Center – to forge on WFIRST ’s   wide-cut - subject Optical - Mechanical Assembly ( WOMA ) . Now , Lockheed Martin has furnish an update on their work .

The squad has previously worked on another NASA project , the Near Infrared Camera ( NIRCam ) , which was   installed on theJames Webb Space Telescope(JWST ) that   will set out keep the universe in 2018 .

" Lockheed Martin scientists achieved groundbreaking ceremony results with NIRCam ’s preciseness and sensitiveness , " said Jeff Vanden Beukel , WOMA program manager at Lockheed Martin , in astatement .   " There ’s no time to lose as we support a fast - paced schedule , and our experience with NIRCam ’s precision optics positions our WOMA design to be able , producible and on budget . "

Going from the NIRCam to the WFIRST official document is not blend to be easy , though . The dark get-up-and-go Orion has a focal plane 200 times larger than the JWST ’s infrared instrument , and it will be the perfect fellow traveler for JWST .

“ WFIRST and JWST will have complementary missions , and WFIRST will be the big - picture pawn that can enchant target of interest , and then JWST can zoom in with more raw instruments like NIRCam to get more details , ” Dr Alison Nordt , WFIRST undertaking lead at Lockheed Martin , stated antecedently .

WFIRST will evaluate the distances and space - time distortions of million of galax , allowing astronomers to knead out not only the properties of dark vim today , but also if and how it changed in the yesteryear . It will also take care closer to home , using its capabilities to search   for exoplanets .

NASA will select a winning design next year , which will immediately go into output to avoid delays on the planned mid-2020s launching .