February 18, 2016: After years of preparatory studies, NASA is formally  starting an astrophysics mission designed to help unlock the secrets of  the universe the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST). WFIRST  will image large regions of the sky in near-infrared light to answer  fundamental questions about dark energy and the structure and evolution  of the universe. It will also find and characterize planets beyond our  solar system, and as a general-purpose observatory, revolutionize many  other astrophysical topics. WFIRST will have a mirror the same size as  Hubble's, but it will have a 100 times wider view of space. Slated for  launch in the mid-2020s, it will complement the capabilities of NASA's  other major astrophysical observatories.

    WFIRST is managed at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt,  Maryland, with participation by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in  Pasadena, California; the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in  Baltimore, Maryland; the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC),  also in Pasadena; and a science team comprised of members from U.S.  research institutions across the country. STScI will be a partner on the  WFIRST science operations and will focus during the mission formulation  phase on the observation scheduling system, wide-field imaging data  processing system, and the data archive.

For more information about this study, visit：http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2016/06/