Publisher's Synopsis
"Evaluation of the Implementation of WFIRST in the Context of New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics" assesses whether the proposed Astrophysics Focused Telescope Assets (AFTA) design reference mission described in the April 30, 2013 report of the AFTA Science Definition Team (SDT), WFIRST-2.4, is responsive to the overall strategy to pursue the science objectives of "New Worlds, New Horizons in Astronomy and Astrophysics," and in particular, the survey's top ranked, large-scale, space-based priority: the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST). This report considers the versions of WFIRST-2.4 with and without the coronagraph, as described in the AFTA SDT report. The report compares the WFIRST mission described in "New Worlds, New Horizons" to the AFTA SDT WFIRST-2.4 design reference mission, with and without the coronagraph, on the basis of their science objectives, technical complexity, and programmatic rationale
