Guests: John Batchelor, Dr. Jason Kalirai, Dr. David Livingston.  Topics:  WFIRST space telescope project and mission.  You are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog. Comments, questions, and any discussion must be relevant and applicable to Space Show programming. Written Transcripts of Space Show programs are not permitted without prior written consent from The Space Show (even if for personal use) & are a violation of the Space Show copyright. We do not permit the commercial use of any Space Show program or part thereof, nor do we permit Space Show programs to be edited, placed on YouTube, or other private channels & websites. Space Show programs can be quoted in news articles, papers, academic & research work but must be cited or referenced in the proper citation format. Contact Dr. Livingston for questions about our copyright and trademark policies which we do enforce.  This program is archived on The Space Show website, podcasting, and blog sites with permission from John Batchelor. Please visit the John Batchelor Show website for more information about this fine program, www.johnbatchelorshow.com.  Remember, your Amazon Purchases Can Help Support The Space Show/OGLF (www.onegiantleapfoundation.org/amazon.htm.  Please note that audio and transition issues are a result of copying the John Batchelor broadcast & are not within my control as they originate in the Batchelor studio.

John Batchelor and I welcomed Dr. Jason Kalirai of the Space Telescope Science Institute and member of the WFIRST team to this Hotel Mars double segment.  During the first part of our double segment program, Dr. Kalirai explained WFIRST to us, why and how it differs from other space telescopes including JWST and Hubble and what it can with its new instrumentation such as the Coronagraph and the  Wide Field Instrument.  In addition, Jason talked about the technical specs and capability differences with WFIRST as compared to the other space telescopes.  You can learn much more about WFIRST, the special mission it has, and its value by visiting https://wfirst.gsfc.nasa.gov.  For the second segment of the program, we focused on the Dark Energy capability of WFIRST.   As explained to us, WFIRST will carry out three types of surveys to attempt to answer dark energy questions.  More detail about the dark energy capabilities of WFIRST can be found at https://wfirst.gsfc.nasa.gov/dark_energy.html.

You can email Mr. Batchelor or Dr. Jason Kalirai  through me at drspace@thespaceshow.com. Jason can also be reached through his page at the Space Telescope Science Institute.