WFI-1 delivered for integration to PUNCH

WFI FM-1, pictured here in the Bldg 178 clean room fully dressed in MLI after completing all environmental and performance testing, is ready for integration to the PUNCH spacecraft.
WFI FM-1, pictured here in the Bldg 178 clean room fully dressed in MLI after completing all environmental and performance testing, is ready for integration to the PUNCH spacecraft.

The Southwest Research Institute WFI team have delivered their first flight instrument (WFI-1) to the Integration and Test team for integration onto a flight PUNCH Observatory! WFI is a wide-field heliospheric imager, similar to an externally occulted coronagraph with a linear geometry. It will view a 40° wide field-of-view extending from 4.5° to approximately 45° from the Sun. WFI-1 will be integrated to a PUNCH spacecraft later this winter, in preparation for observatory environmental testing through the spring of 2024. PUNCH is scheduled to launch by early April of 2025.