Reflecting on Webb's Progress
As the James Webb Space Telescope scientists and engineers continue to move forward with the observatory's pre-launch testing and assembly, the NASA community is excited to see the outstanding work accomplished so far.
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., held an employee event
on Feb. 3, 2014, to share this progress. The main auditorium filled to capacity
with NASA employees, as well as top officials from Northrop Grumman, Ball
Aerospace & Technologies, the Space Telescope Science Institute, the
Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, the Canadian Space Agency
and others to hear the strides the Webb team has made.
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and Sen. Barbara
Mikulski, of Maryland, visited NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt,
Md., on Feb. 3, 2014, to discuss the status of the James Webb Space Telescope,
the agency's flagship science project.
Image Credit: NASA
Goddard Center Director Chris Scolese welcomed everyone and acknowledged
that, "Without their leadership, we wouldn’t be here today," he said. "They have
taken Webb from the beginning to the really great state it is in today."
The two other esteemed guests who joined Scolese on stage were NASA
Administrator Charles Bolden and Sen. Barbara Mikulski of Maryland. Bolden
shared his excitement and admiration for the scientists and engineers working
hard to keep Webb on-budget and on-target for the much-anticipated launch date,
scheduled for no earlier than 2018.
Sen. Mikulski, Goddard Center Director Chris
Scolese and Administrator Bolden chat, via video from a Goddard clean room, with
Paul Geithner, the James Webb Space Telescope's technical deputy project manager
as Goddard employees and other officials look on.
Image Credit: NASA Goddard/Rebecca Roth
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Sen. Mikulski addresses Goddard employees and other
guests.
Image Credit: NASA Goddard/Chris Gunn
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"The recent completion
of the critical design review for Webb, and the delivery of all its instruments
to Goddard, mark significant progress for this mission," Bolden said.
Mikulski, a long-time NASA supporter, said she was proud and happy to see how
far NASA has come with the telescope. In her role, Mikulski has helped secure
funding for NASA so scientists and engineers can continue to push the envelope
with their innovation and hard work. "My goal is to help you be you," she said.
"May the force continue to be with you."
Guests also had the opportunity to see a live tour, through video feed, of
the clean room that houses the hardware for Webb. They saw the 18 primary mirror
segments that will soon be assembled on the Webb telescope. Paul Geithner,
deputy project manager for Webb and tour guide explained the various parts of
the telescope housed at Goddard.
Among the instruments was the University of Arizona's Near-Infrared Camera,
which will be Webb's primary camera and collect images of some of the very first
stars and galaxies that formed in our universe. Another instrument, European
Space Agency’s Near-Infrared Spectrograph analyzes the composition of various
astronomical objects. Next, Geithner showed the European Space Agency-provided
Mid-Infrared Instrument. The instrument has both a camera and a spectrograph,
which can see light in the mid-infrared, a portion of the electromagnetic
spectrum that the human eye can’t see. The last instrument shown on the tour was
the Canadian Space Agency's Fine Guidance Sensor and Near-infrared Imager and
Slitless Spectrograph. This will allow Webb to point as precisely as possible at
its targets to obtain the highest-quality images possible. It will also provide
another method for investigating both the distant universe and closer, recently
discovered exoplanets.
These components, once assembled and launched will contribute to the Webb
telescope's discovery of amazing things. "This is the promise of JWST," Geithner
said.
Talya Lerner
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and Senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland
congratulated the James Webb Space Telescope team Monday for the delivery of all
flight instruments and primary mirrors to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in
Greenbelt, Md.
Their comments came in a morning news conference at Goddard, where NASA's
flagship science project will be assembled in preparation for launch in
2018.
”The Hubble Space Telescope has already rewritten the science books. Going
from Hubble to the James Webb Space Telescope is like going from a biplane to
the jet engine,” said Mikulski, Chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations
Committee that funds NASA. "As Chairwoman, I’ve continued to fight for funds in
the federal checkbook to keep the James Webb Space Telescope mission on track,
supporting jobs today and jobs tomorrow at Goddard. NASA Goddard is home to
leaders in Maryland’s space and innovation economies, making discoveries that
not only win Nobel Prizes, but create new products and jobs. The James Webb
Space Telescope will keep us in the lead for astronomy for decades to come,
spurring the innovation and technology that keep America’s economy rolling."
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope will be the most powerful space telescope
ever built, capable of observing the most distant objects in the universe,
providing images of the first galaxies formed, and observing unexplored planets
around distant stars. A joint project of NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA)
and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), Webb is the successor to the agency's
Hubble Space Telescope.
All 18 of Webb's primary mirror segments are now housed in the Goddard clean
room. Its 1.3 million cubic feet of dust-free space make the clean room one of
the world's largest. All four of Webb's science instruments are within feet of
the mirrors. The telescope’s mirror and instruments will capture images of the
universe and break down the spectra of incoming light to analyze the properties
of galaxies, stars, and the atmospheres of planets beyond our solar system.
"The recent completion of the critical design review for Webb, and the
delivery of all its instruments to Goddard, mark significant progress for this
mission," said Bolden. "The design, build, delivery and testing of these
components took meticulous planning and action here at Goddard and with teams
across the country, as well as with our international partners. It's very
exciting to see it all coming together on schedule. And I want to thank our good
friend Senator Barbara Mikulski for her support. We wouldn't be here today
without her championing of this critical capability for NASA. I know she
understands just how important it is to continue to push the boundaries of what
we can do in space."
"This past year has been one of significant progress for the Webb telescope,"
said Goddard Director Chris Scolese during the news conference. "The NASA
Goddard team is working tirelessly with our partners to keep the program on
track as we develop this newest scientific tool to explore the universe."
The news conference featured a video presentation hosted by Webb's deputy
project manager and technical engineer, Paul Geithner, from inside the clean
room. He explained how the 18 mirror segments will be coupled to form the
massive space telescope's 21-foot-wide main mirror. This work, and the assembly
of the rest of the telescope, will begin once the telescope structure arrives at
Goddard.
"Each of these instruments has a unique function to collect data about the
universe," Geithner said, pointing to four science instruments that will be
located inside the heart of the telescope.
One of these instruments, the University of Arizona's Near-Infrared Camera,
will be Webb's primary camera and will take images of the first stars and
galaxies to form in the universe, along with many other astronomical
targets.
A second instrument, ESA's Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec), will analyze
the spectra and composition of as many as 100 objects at once. Airbus Defence
and Space, formerly known as EADS/Astrium, built NIRSpec with components
provided by Goddard.
A third instrument, ESA's Mid-Infrared Instrument, has both a camera and a
spectrograph, which sees light in the mid-infrared region of the electromagnetic
spectrum -- wavelengths longer than the human eye can see. This instrument was
developed in collaboration with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena,
Calif.
A fourth instrument, CSA's Fine Guidance Sensor and Near-infrared Imager and
Slitless Spectrograph, will allow Webb to point precisely at its target in order
to obtain high-quality images, and also will provide other valuable science
modes for investigating both the distant universe and nearby exoplanets.
Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems is building Webb's sunshield. Once in
space, the sunshield will act as an umbrella to keep heat radiating from the sun
and Earth from reaching scientific instruments that must stay cold to function
properly. The Webb telescope will be fully assembled by 2016 and then moved to a
clean room at NASA's Johnson Space Center for additional testing.
For more information about the instruments and the Webb telescope, visit:
and
NASA
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
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