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Progress on the James Webb Space TelescopeI will describe the scientific program anticipated for the James Webb Space Telescope and the progress in its construction. When the JWST was conceived in 1995 it was expected to make its greatest contributions in the study of the first objects to form after the Big Bang, in the evolution of galaxies, and in the formation and evolution of stars and planetary systems. Since then, the age-distance-redshift relation has become clear with the precise measurement of the Hubble constant, the discovery of the accelerating universe, and the remarkable agreement of CMBR calculations with direct measurements of the large-scale structure. So what is left and what has changed? Galaxy formation and growth is still mysterious, star formation is still hidden, the dark matter and dark energy are still unobservable, and the tools at hand may or may not help enough. But the JWST, as a general-purpose observatory, will be available for imaginative use, and is just what Simon White's polemic seems to request. As an example, the JWST should be quite capable of observing transiting exoplanets with remarkable precision, even though there was no requirement to do so, and its coronagraphs will be very good even without a monolithic primary mirror. The JWST mission has now been officially approved by NASA and is in the Federal budget. It is planned for launch in 2014. Flight instruments will begin to arrive at Goddard in mid-2010, and the first flight mirror segments have already passed their first cryogenic tests. The flight detectors have been selected and have remarkable performance; for example, the near IR detectors have dark currents of the order of 10 electrons per pixel per hour.
Document ID
20090032002
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Presentation
Authors
Mather, John C.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Date Acquired
August 24, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2009
Subject Category
Astronomy
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.

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