Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771
ENGINEERING COLLOQUIUM
Monday, October 3, 2011 / 3:30 PM, Building 3 Auditorium
David Content
"Science and Early Engineering of the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST)"
ABSTRACT -- In August 2010 the Astrophysics Decadal Review selected the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope [WFIRST] as its top new space based astrophysics mission priority for the upcoming decade. Never before had a new mission (and acronym) come out of the review process. This mission is ready to proceed into development. This talk introduces the science, including dark energy, exoplanet discovery using gravitational microlensing, and wide infrared surveys, and the engineering, including the current payload design which achieved the first science team consensus and the optical design and implementation trades that led up to it.
SPEAKER -- Dave Content has worked in optics at NASA/GSFC since completing his Ph.D. in physics from Johns Hopkins in 1988. Initially he worked on diffraction gratings for UV missions including FUSE and HST. He has researched mirror materials, lightweight mirrors, and x-ray mandrel development. He is now an optical systems engineer and the optics lead engineer for WFIRST.