NASA’s Artemis II, which will send a crew of four astronauts on a journey around the Moon, is currently scheduled for an April 1 launch. STScI’s operations staff have continued to revise and adjust JWST’s observing plan accordingly.

During the 10-day window of the Artemis II mission, the JWST operations plan currently assumes roughly a quarter of the usual Deep Space Network (DSN) access will be available, which has a direct impact on the number of science visits that can be executed and the volume of data that can be downlinked. The top priority for JWST operations will be the health and safety of the observatory, followed by scheduling of time-sensitive observations without later opportunities, and of low data-volume observations. The team has produced a science timeline that currently has no idle time while respecting the nominal usage of the solid-state recorder capacity. If your program is affected, new observing windows for your visits will be communicated by email; PIs can also reach out to their Program Coordinator for additional information.