Planck's objective is to analyze, with the highest accuracy ever achieved, the remnants of the radiation that filled the Universe immediately after the Big Bang, which we observe today as the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). The US Planck Data Center is located at IPAC, and IPAC generated the Early Release Compact Source Catalog (ERCSC), the first public data product from the mission.

The Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) provides an all-sky survey from 3 to 25 microns which is up to 500 times more sensitive than the previous infrared all-sky survey from IRAS survey. WISE launched on 14 December 2009. The Infrared Processing and Analysis Center (IPAC) is responsible for data processing and archiving, and preparing images for public release into the image gallery.

The Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) is the top-ranked large space mission from the Astro2010 Decadal Survey. NASA is conducting a formulation phase study of a design reference mission that would be capable of addressing essential questions in the areas of exoplanets, dark energy, and infrared astrophysics.