[Satellite Today 05-21-09] Space Dynamics Laboratory (SDL) has completed NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) science instrument and has shipped the unit to Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp, who will integrate it onto the James Webb Space Telescope satellite, SDL announced May 19.
   Following a scheduled launch in late 2009, WISE aims to collect millions of images from which hundreds of millions of astronomical objects will be catalogued, according to Doug Lemon, director of SDL.  “For decades SDL has worked with NASA to map the skies and our commitment to NASA continues as WISE prepares to chart space in infrared light, searching for the closest stars and asteroids, the origins of star systems, and some of the brightest galaxies in the Universe,” said Lemon, in a statement.
   The James Webb Space Telescope is the next-generation follow-on to the Hubble Space Telescope.