Excellent record for ULA with their 36th launch in 36 months just completed, now ULA is turning its attention to supporting NASA for the Delta II Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) launch. It is set for Friday, December 11, with a launch window of 6:09-6:23 a.m. PST from Space Launch Complex-2 at Vandenberg AFB, California aboard a Delta II 7320-10C launch vehicle.

United Launch Alliance (ULA) readies to launch the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). ULA provides the Delta II launch service under the NASA Launch Services (NLS) contract with the NASA Kennedy Space Center Launch Services Program. NASA selected the Delta II for this mission after many successful commercial and government launches to Earth orbit and destinations throughout the solar system.

WISE Science Objectives

• Conduct an all-sky infrared survey
• Find the most luminous galaxies in the universe
• Find the closest stars to the sun
• Provide an important catalog for the James Webb Space Telescope (Hubble follow-on)

Features Include:

• Four imaging channels covering 3-25 microns wavelength
• 40-cm telescope operating at <17° Kelvin
• Two-stage solid hydrogen cryostat
• Operational life: 7 months (110% margin)
• Four TDRSS tracks per day