James Webb Space Telescope

2012

Recent Accomplishments
Follow the JWST recent accomplishments.
January 2012 AAS Town Hall Presentations
JWST town hall presentations from the January 2012 AAS meeting are available on the JWST web site.
TFI is now a Heritage Instrument
In July 2011 the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) reluctantly discontinued work on the Tunable Filter Imager (TFI) when it became clear that issues associated with the cryogenic operation of its Fabry-Perot etalon were unlikely to be resolved in time to meet the instrument's delivery schedule. Instead, CSA will provide a reconfigured instrument - the Near InfraRed Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS) - that enhances the capabilities of the JWST Observatory while being simpler to fabricate and operate. For more information please look at the NIRISS web site.

2011

JWST presence at 2012 AAS meeting in Austin, TX
The JWST team will be at the upcoming American Astronomical Society (AAS) Meeting in Austin, TX on Jan. 09-12th, 2012. The JWST booth will be a part of the STScI booth, and will feature new science brochures, flyers and multimedia products on the technical progress of the mission, and 3D videos. Scientists from both STScI and GSFC will be available to field questions. We encourage community members to engage the team with ideas on the topic of maximizing the scientific return of the mission.

In addition to the booth, we will host a 1 hour JWST Town Hall on Monday January 9th at 12:45 pm in Ballroom G (Session 119). The Town Hall will feature two short presentations on the status of the JWST project, followed by a science talk by Dr. David Charbonneau (CfA) - "Sniffing Alien Atmospheres with JWST". Ample time will be reserved for comments and questions from the audience.
JWST at 2011 EPSC-DPS meeting
The James Webb Space Telescope will be used for a wide range of scientific investigations including many solar system programs. The four page flyer summarizes some of the key solar system discoveries that planetary scientists have made with the Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes, and also presents a brief summary of the potential of JWST in this field. This flyer was presented at the JWST booth at the Division for Planetary Sciences annual meeting in Nantes, France on Oct 03-07, 2011
September: Town Hall Webinar about JWST on September 21, 2011
Presenters from NASA, the Space Telescope Science Institute, and the astronomical community will discuss the latest developments, outline the mission's scientific potential, and answer your questions. For more details see the Webinar page.
July: On July 6th, 2011, the House appropriations committee released a draft bill that will cut NASA’s budget by $1.9 billion below the President's 2012 request. Under this bill, NASA's Science Programs will be cut by $431 million below last year's level, and the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) would be terminated. Below, we summarize several important aspects of JWST including the observatory’s current status and expected research impact.
more ...
July: All 18 JWST Primary Mirror Segments have completed polishing
All of the 18 flight mirrors have been polished to accuracies of less than one millionth of an inch. According to NASA News Release that accuracy is important for forming the sharpest images when the mirrors cool to -400°F (-240°C) in space. After polishing, the mirrors are coated with a microscopically thin layer of gold to enable them to efficiently reflect infrared light. NASA has completed coating 13 of 18 primary mirror segments and will complete the rest by early next year.
July: JWST Community Input Wiki
A new wiki site dedicated to provide a forum for astronomical community members to provide feedback on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has been released. Members of the community can add to the wiki pages after becoming wikidot registered users at no cost. Take a look at jwstinput.wikidot.com and feel free to provide feedback.
May: JWST Prototype ETC released
STScI is pleased to announce the release of JWST prototype Exposure Time Calculators (ETCs) to support the "Frontier Science Opportunities with JWST" meeting this coming June 6-8th in Baltimore, MD. The ETCs include support for all four JWST Science Instruments, including several imaging and spectroscopic modes. The ETCs are available at jwstetc.stsci.edu.
March: 2011 JWST Workshop
Registration is now open for the "Frontier Science Opportunities with the James Webb Space Telescope" meeting. The meeting will take place at STScI in Baltimore, MD on June 6-8th, and will feature invited and contributed talk and posters from astronomers all over the world. Registration
January: JWST presence at 2011 AAS meeting in Seattle
Several hundred astronomers visited the JWST booth at the 217th American Astronomical Society (AAS) meeting last week. Members of the JWST team from STScI and GSFC fielded questions from the community and disseminated various JWST-related informational material, including a new science brochure. The team also gave demonstrations of the JWST proposal planning tool, showed videos of the telescope deployment and segments of the "Behind the Webb" series, and showcased a new fly-by of the telescope on a high-definition 3D TV. JWST status updates were also provided throughout the meeting as a part of the opening remarks of the AAS, the JWST Town Hall, and the NASA Town Hall.

2010

December 1-2, 2010::
The third meeting of the JSTAC was held at the STScI on Dec 1-2, 2010. The council reviewed the recommendations of the ICRP report and NASA's response from Eric Smith and the new Project Manager, Bill Ochs. NASA and STScI scientists presented reports on the primary mirror development and outreach to the astronomical community.
September: Scientific Role of the James Webb Space Telescope in "New Worlds, New Horizons"
May: The Second Meeting of the James Webb Space Telescope Advisory Council (JSTAC)
April: JWST passes key mission design review milestone
January AAS Presentations

2009

November: The First Meeting of the James Webb Space Telescope Advisory Council (JSTAC) The first meeting of the JSTAC appointed by Matt Mountain was held at the STScI on November 4-5, 2009. In addition to hearing briefings on the technical and scientific progress of the project, the JSTAC discussed and made recommendations on the NASA science policies and their implementation. The JSTAC will meet semi-annually to advise on the Institute's readiness to conduct the Webb science mission.
September: Mission News - James Webb Space Telescope Begins to Take Shape at Goddard
January AAS Presentations