James Webb Space Telescope

2014

Cryo-vacuum testing at Goddard June 16, 2014
ISIM with all four JWST instruments was lowered into the thermal vacuum chamber at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. It will undergo four-months long cryo-vacuum test after which it will be back at the clean room for additional work and testing. Another thermal vacuum test of ISIM is scheduled in 2015.
Town Hall at 45th Annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference
A Town Hall on Observations in the Solar System with HST and JWST was planned for Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, on March 20, at The Woodlands, Texas. The Town Hall gave the community an opportunity to provide input to the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) solar system committee and a chance to hear the current status of the committee’s activities. Additionally, the Town Hall presented the accomplishments and status of the recommendations provided to the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) team last year regarding solar system observations and solicited the community for further input. For more details see the Solar System page.
2014 AAS JWST Science Session
The Winter 2014 AAS meeting at National Harbor, MD, featured a JWST Science Session on Wednesday, January 8th. The speaker list included Marla Geha (Yale U.) on galaxy evolution; John Johnson (Harvard U.) on exoplanets; Alicia Soderberg (Harvard U.) on supernovae; Matthew Tiscareno (Cornell U.) on solar system science; and Mark Wyatt (Cambridge U.) on planet formation.
2014 AAS JWST/HST Town Hall
A joint JWST/HST Town Hall was planned for the Winter 2014 AAS meeting at National Harbor, MD, on Wednesday, January 8th. Scheduled speakers included Nobel Laureate Adam Riess of the Johns Hopkins University and Eric Smith, acting director of JWST program at NASA Headquarters.
46th DPS Meeting-Observational Solar System Science Investigations with JWST
JWST's presence at the upcoming 46th Division of Planetary Science (DPS) meeting in November in Tucson, AZ will include a topical session focusing on reports from ten community-based groups. The white papers these groups are preparing describe use cases for different observational solar system science investigations with Webb. A booth will enhance the interaction between Webb project members and the solar system community. See the Solar System page for more details.
JWST Townhall at 225th AAS meeting
Plans are currently underway for the 225th AAS meeting in Seattle, WA, from Jan. 5-8, 2015, where a JWST Town Hall meeting will take place the evening of January 6. A timely discussion item led by scientists at the Institute will focus on implementation of early release science observations as a way to maximize community engagement in Webb science and obtain early hands-on experience with data from many of Webb’s observing modes.
Cryo-vacuum testing at Goddard June 16, 2014
ISIM with all four JWST instruments was lowered into the thermal vacuum chamber at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. It will undergo four-months long cryo-vacuum test after which it will be back at the clean room for additional work and testing. Another thermal vacuum test of ISIM is scheduled in 2015.
Town Hall at 45th Annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference
A Town Hall on Observations in the Solar System with HST and JWST was planned for Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, on March 20, at The Woodlands, Texas. The Town Hall gave the community an opportunity to provide input to the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) solar system committee and a chance to hear the current status of the committee’s activities. Additionally, the Town Hall presented the accomplishments and status of the recommendations provided to the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) team last year regarding solar system observations and solicited the community for further input. For more details see the Solar System page.
2014 AAS JWST Science Session
The Winter 2014 AAS meeting at National Harbor, MD, featured a JWST Science Session on Wednesday, January 8th. The speaker list included Marla Geha (Yale U.) on galaxy evolution; John Johnson (Harvard U.) on exoplanets; Alicia Soderberg (Harvard U.) on supernovae; Matthew Tiscareno (Cornell U.) on solar system science; and Mark Wyatt (Cambridge U.) on planet formation.
2014 AAS JWST/HST Town Hall
A joint JWST/HST Town Hall was planned for the Winter 2014 AAS meeting at National Harbor, MD, on Wednesday, January 8th. Scheduled speakers included Nobel Laureate Adam Riess of the Johns Hopkins University and Eric Smith, acting director of JWST program at NASA Headquarters.

2013

NIRSpec arrives at Goddard
The Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec), the last of Webb’s science instruments to arrive at NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center was shipped from Germany in September 2013 and arrived at GSFC on September 20, 2013. NIRSpec will join the other instruments at GSFC for integration into the science instrument module and subsequent testing in 2014.
NIRCam arrives at Goddard
The Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) joined two other Webb instruments, MIRI and FGS/NIRISS at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. NIRCam arrived on July 27, 2013, from Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center in Palo Alto, CA. NIRCam is the primary near-infrared imager on board Webb.
Primary Mirror Backplane Assembly (PMBA) arrives at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center
On August 22nd, 2013, the primary backplane support of Webb’s hexagonal primary mirrors arrived at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, for testing.
JWST Townhall meeting on Observations in the Solar System
A followup meeting to bring the community up to speed on the accomplishments and status of the recommendations provided to the JWST team last year regarding solar system observations was held at the 45th Annual Division for Planetary Sciences Meeting in Denver, CO. For more information see the JWST Solar System page.
Planning your Solar System Observations with JWST
The JWST team organized a special workshop titled 'Planning your Solar System Observations with JWST' at the 44th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference at The Woodlands, Texas on March 17, 2013. The participants contributed significant input for the JWST team regarding new science cases, community concerns, and other potential observational modes to be considered. The presentations from the workshop are available on the solar system page.
NIRISS and FGS installed into the ISIM
NIRISS and the FGS became the first flight instruments to be attached to the Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM), which is currently located in the large clean room at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
JWST sessions webcasted at the Jan 2013 AAS meeting
In partnership with the AAS, STScI webcasted two of the JWST sessions at the Jan 2013 AAS meeting in Long Beach. These included session 135, 'Scientific Opportunities with JWST' on Monday Jan 07th at 2:00 pm and session 318, 'The JWST Town Hall' on Wednesday Jan 09th at 12:45 pm.
JWST presence at 2013 AAS meeting in Long Beach, CA
The JWST team will be at the upcoming American Astronomical Society (AAS) Meeting in Long Beach, CA on Jan. 06-10th, 2012. The JWST booth will be a part of the STScI booth, and will feature new science brochures. Scientists from STScI will be available to answer questions. We will also host a JWST science session on Monday and a town hall meeting on Wednesday.

2012

The JWST team will participate in the Division for Planetary Sciences Annual Meeting in Reno NV on Oct. 14-19th, 2012.
The JWST booth will have new science flyers and white papers describing Solar System opportunities, and we will also host a special workshop titled "Planning your Solar System Observations with JWST". The workshop will take place from 9 am to noon on Sunday Oct. 14th, and we encourage all DPS participants to attend. More information is available on the AAS Division for Planetary Sciences Annual Meeting page and also on our own STScI page on JWST Solar System science.
Recent Accomplishments
Follow the JWST recent accomplishments.
JWST Flight Instrument NIRISS/FGS Delivered From the Canadian Space Agency
Following the delivery of MIRI from the European Space Agency on May 29th, 2012, the second JWST flight instrument NIRISS/FGS has been delivered from the Canadian Space Agency to NASA/GSFC. More information on the instrument's characteristics and science potential can be found here (NIRISS, FGS).

Video of JWST's NIRISS/FGS being unwrapped at GSFC.
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