DRS IR Sensor Modules Integrated Into NASA's New Sky- Mapping Spacecraft

(Bethesda, MD., January 13, 2010) -- DRS Defense Solutions, LLC, is supplying all of the infrared sensor modules for NASA's new sky-mapping Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) spacecraft, which launched in December from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base.

The WlSE mission is designed to map the entire sky in unprecedented detail. It will circle Earth over the poles, scanning the entire sky one-and-a-half times in nine months. Rather than looking at specific objects the WlSE mission will survey everything it can see with its DRS infrared eyes, providing a detailed catalog of infrared-emitting objects for further research and study. In addition, WISE will be able to see failed stars called brown dwarfs and ultra-luminous infrared galaxies out in the distant regions of the Universe. These galaxies are bright in the infrared, but are invisible to telescopes that can only see in the visible light spectrum.


Key to mission success, the DRS Defense Solutions space qualified infrared sensor modules, developed for Utah State's Space Dynamics Laboratory (SDL), will help the SDL, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and NASA team pick up objects such as asteroids in our Solar System that remain undetected because they are invisible in visible light. The mission will uncover hidden cosmic objects, including the coolest stars, dark asteroids and the most luminous galaxies.

Source : DRS Technologies Inc., A Finmeccanica Company (Milan: FNC.MI)