SWIRE and SIRTF Surveys

The launch of SIRTF on August 25, 2003 opens an exciting new era for the infrared. Building on the legacy of IRAS, COBE & ISO, SIRTF will image the sky from 3.6–160 μm in tiered surveys, from wide (∼80 sq. deg.) reaching z∼1 in depth for L^*_FIR galaxies, to small, deep, confusion-limited surveys. SIRTF will measure the accumulation of stellar mass at high redshift, and the evolution of dusty systems (disks, starbursts & AGN) since z∼4, on size scales up to several hundred Mpc. The next decade will also see two major all-sky IR surveys, ASTRO-F and WISE (Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer), and the launch of Herschel and Planck.