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 James Webb Space Telescope This image shows the James Webb Space Telescope
as it will be built by Northrop Grumman Space Technology for NASA, ESA, and CSA. JWST development is led by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (www.jwst.nasa.gov). The observatory has been named after NASA's second administrator, best known for his leadership of the Apollo missions. [Press Release] [More Images] |
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 Down-to-Earth info about the James Webb Space Telescope. Discover what the JWST Mission is all about, without all the confusing astronomy jargon. |
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Download the report to NASA recommending addition or optimization of the James Webb Space Telescope capabilities to maximize astrobiology science return. 
Astrophysics in the Next Decade: JWST and Concurrent Facilities
STScI Appoints New Mission Head for the James Webb Space Telescope
The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) has appointed Dr. Kathryn
Flanagan as the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Mission Head.
Dr. Flanagan will be responsible for the development and operations of
the JWST Science and Operations Center at the STScI.
The largest space observatory ever developed, the JWST is scheduled for
launch in June 2013.
Dr. Flanagan is currently Principal Research Scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research. Dr. Flanagan brings an extensive experience in space mission development and instrument engineering. She has worked on three NASA flight instruments, and was responsible for the ground calibration of the High Energy Transmission Gratings, one of the instruments onboard the Chandra X-ray Observatory. During her association with Chandra she worked with Northrop Grumman Space Technology, NASA's prime contractor building JWST. She is now leading a team developing new spectrometers for the Constellation-X mission, while continuing as an active member of the Chandra gratings team. "JWST is a leap forward in our ability to study the universe. The mission is a challenge both scientifically and technically. I am very excited about the opportunity to lead the JWST Mission Office at STScI as my background and involvement in NASA Great Observatories provides a bridge to a broader community." Dr. Flanagan has worked closely with NASA Headquarters and has co-chaired two NASA strategic planning documents, the 2005 NASA roadmap for Universe Exploration and the 2006 NASA Astrophysics Division Roadmap, /Science Program for NASA's Astronomy and Physics Division/. Dr Flanagan also served on the JWST Science Assessment Team that reviewed and prioritized Webb's science capabilities in 2005. "We are very much looking forward to Kathy joining the STScI and JWST Team. She brings to this leadership role extensive space science experience, spanning both hardware and space observatory programmatics," said STScI Director Matt Mountain. Dr. Flanagan joins STScI in September.
NASA and ESA signed the JWST MOU at the Paris airshow on June 18, 2007Full text of the NASA-ESA JWST Memorandum Of Understanding
JWST Project passes the Technology Non-Advocate ReviewOn March 23, 2007, the Non-Advocate Review Team (NRT) submitted a short memorandum to NASA Headquarters stating that the Technology Non-Advocate Review (T-NAR) held on January 30-February 1 had successfully met its objectives. As described in the Spring 2007 STScI Newsletter, the Project had shown that 9 of the 10 key enabling technologies needed for the Webb development had been demonstrated to meet their performance goals in the appropriate launch or flight-like conditions. These included the following:
The only technology development that had not yet met its goals was the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) cryocooler, which had yet to meet its cooling and vibration-control performance requirements. The NRT's report agreed with the Project's readiness assessments for the nine successful technologies listed above and stated that "an [new] approach was identified and actions were taken to bring the MIRI cryocooler technology to TRL-6 maturity. This has been successfully completed." While the NRT had identified "residual risks" for some of the items, they concluded that "the TNAR, and subsequent activities, to have demonstrated that the TRL-6 criteria for all 10 enabling technologies have been met, and that, barring any unforeseen circumstances, we [NRT] do not intend to revisit the technology readiness of those technologies at the NAR [Non-Advocate Review, now scheduled for late March 2008]." NASA Headquarters has accepted the NRT report, clearing the way for the JWST Preliminary Design Review/NAR in March 2008. This Northrop Grumman SPIE article describes the selected architecture, its expected performance and the plans for integration and testing. Even though many details in the design have changed since this article was written, many of the design choices and procedures are still valid. Sensitivity information for JWST is provided. Detailed exposure time calculations and mission completion time estimates can be generated by the JWST Mission Simulator. |
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