| Abstract: |
The top recommendation for a large space mission in the US 2010 Decadal Survey was the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST), which is now scheduled to launch in 2025. WFIRST will perform groundbreaking science in dark energy, exoplanet microlensing, and near infrared sky surveys using an existing 2.4 meter telescope donated to NASA by another US government agency. WFIRST will also have a coronagraph that will take images and spectra of nearby exoplanets; this instrument will be a technological stepping stone to imaging other Earths in the 2030s. I will give an overview of WFIRST's proposed instrumentation, science goals, and implementation plan. I will describe proposed Japanese hardware contributions to WFIRST’s coronagraph and a planned synergistic survey program for WFIRST and Subaru. |
