You can be on Entrepreneur’s cover!

NASA Building Telescope 100 Times More Powerful Than Hubble The Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope will be used to find far flung planets and to better understand dark energy.

By Nina Zipkin

entrepreneur daily

NASA is always looking to the skies for answers to life's big questions, and a recently announced initiative will allow the agency to see further than ever before.

It is currently at work building the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST), and when the device is completed, it will have a view that is 100 times larger than the Hubble Telescope.

Related: Look Hard, Stargazers: There May Be a 9th Planet in Our Solar System

NASA's aim is to use the WFIRST to learn more about dark energy and dark matter, study the evolution and expansion of the universe, and broaden the search for planets, even potentially habitable ones, outside of our solar system.

In a release from the agency, Paul Hertz, director of NASA's Astrophysics Division in Washington, D.C., explained how the different mechanical elements of the WFIRST would work to help create a clearer picture of just what's out there.

"The Wide-Field Instrument will give the telescope the ability to capture a single image with the depth and quality of Hubble, but covering 100 times the area," Hertz said. "The coronagraph will provide revolutionary science, capturing the faint, but direct images of distant gaseous worlds and super-Earths."

The WFIRST will also be powerful enough to locate and measure "the shapes, positions and distances of millions of galaxies," and is on track to launch in the mid-2020s.

Related: Boldly Growing Where No Flower Has Grown Before

Nina Zipkin

Entrepreneur Staff

Staff Writer. Covers leadership, media, technology and culture.

Nina Zipkin is a staff writer at Entrepreneur.com. She frequently covers leadership, media, tech, startups, culture and workplace trends.

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Editor's Pick

Business News

'Wildly Inappropriate': Woman Says She Was Denied a Job Because She Didn't Wear Makeup During the Interview

Melissa Weaver was applying for a VP of HR job at a tech company via video.

Business News

From Tom Brady to Kevin O'Leary – See Who Lost Big in the Wake of the FTX Crypto Collapse

The crash exposed an $8 billion hole in FTX's accounts, leaving investors and customers scrambling to recoup their funds.

Business News

Kevin O'Leary Says 'Do Not' Merge Finances, Bank Accounts With Your Spouse: 'I Forbid It in My Own Family'

The "Shark Tank" star stressed the importance of keeping your "own financial identity" in a relationship.

Business News

This Highly-Debated Piece of Cinematic History Just Sold For Over $700,000 at Auction

The wood panel from "Titanic" is often mistaken as a door. Either way, he couldn't have fit. (Sorry.)