JPL Open House

Every year the Jet Propulsion Laboratory holds a weekend Open House which gets around 30,000 visitors.  That’s lot of space science enthusiasts.  The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer has a display along what might be called “Infrared Alley” in “Universe Plaza”.

WISE booth at 2009 JPL Open House

Bryan Mendez from UC Berkeley is seen sitting at the table, explaining the WISE mission to the visitors. Also present but hidden is Greg Schultz who is also working on WISE Education and Public Outreach. The easel to the left of Mendez holds a full-size cutout image of the WISE payload: the all-reflecting telescope, the 4-band infrared camera, and the cryostat filled with solid hydrogen that will keep the instrument cold during the planned all-sky survey.  Many of our visitors thought that the payload looks like “R2D2” from Star Wars.  You can find out more about WISE at http://wise.astro.ucla.edu.