Letter from the Director

For over 40 years, the Space Telescope Science Institute has served as the bridge between the scientific community and NASA’s flagship astrophysics missions. We have furthered the exploration of the universe and transformative discoveries for thousands of astronomers around the world with our science-first approach. We are fortunate to host a team of over 850 individuals, spanning a wide range of professional expertise in science, software, engineering, business administration, communications, IT, and more — all dedicated to ensuring that our missions continue to succeed and provide inspiration for the public. 2024 has been one of the most accomplished years in the history of STScI, with another record-breaking year for the Hubble and Webb space telescopes, and dramatic progress toward the launch of the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. 

We celebrated three years since Webb launched on Christmas Day in 2021. There is no question that Webb has forever changed the way we see the universe. Webb continues to perform better than expected and is rewriting our understanding of the first galaxies, the formation of planets and stars, and nature of the universe. Webb now has more than 1,200 publications to its credit, while demand for time on the telescope and supporting grants continues to grow. In the past year, our public outreach team shared these stories with millions of people around the world via dozens of press releases and over 100 supporting images. The success of Webb science and the continued improvements in Webb operations are made possible by the strong support and collaboration of STScI’s science, engineering, and flight operations teams.

Hubble continues to be the most scientifically productive NASA astrophysics mission, as new users find new ways to observe with the telescope, resulting in its highest ever number of published papers. Hubble’s seamless transition to reduced gyro mode with no impact to the telescope’s quality of data demonstrates the resourcefulness and uncompromising standards of the Hubble operations team. Hubble’s consistent high performance year after year is opening windows into new science only possible with decades of precise observations. These discoveries include tracking weather patterns on the outer solar system planets, detecting the motions of stars around a black hole in the center of the Omega Centauri cluster, and watching the evolution of the gaseous nebula around the binary star system R Aquarii. This fall, the new Rocky Worlds Director’s Discretionary Time program launched to use Hubble and Webb together to understand the conditions needed for rocky exoplanets to keep their atmospheres, a necessary requirement for the existence of life.

Roman literally came together this year with the delivery of the telescope and integration with the science instruments, which is ongoing at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Our team made great strides in the development of the Roman Science Operations Center and contributed to the successful Mission Operations Review in December. MAST and the Roman Mission Office led a demonstration of the new Roman Research Nexus at the American Astronomical Society’s January 2025 meeting, which will transform the way astronomers access and analyze Roman’s petabytes of data. In the coming year, I’m looking forward to the next steps for the Habitable Worlds Observatory and our support of a conference in summer 2025 about its visionary science and transformational technology.

These accomplishments don’t happen without the hard work of everyone at STScI, including the behind-the-scenes efforts from human resources, facilities, the business resource center, IT, and the program management office staff, who make everyone’s daily work possible. I’m grateful for the opportunity to work with our dedicated and talented teams, and our partners at NASA, ESA, and CSA. Looking ahead, we will continue to embody our values of service, integrity, legacy, and excellence as we inspire and excite the world in our shared mission to explore the universe.

Clear Skies,

Jen Lotz
Director