Optical performance verification of the James Webb Space Telescope

Barto, Allison; Atkinson, Charlie; Contreras, James; Lightsey, Paul A.; Noecker, Charley; Waldman, Mark; Whitman, Tony

doi:10.1117/12.790483

Cited by 18 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…;l Unlike the Hubble Space telescope, which resides in low earth orbit, the JWST cannot be serviced by astronauts due to its more distant Sun-Earth L2 point orbit. However, in contrast to prior space observatories, the JWST telescope and instrument optical systems employ a high degree of capability for in-flight adjustment (Barto 2008), and lessons learned from prior observatory test programs are carefully taken into account in design of the above test program (Feinberg 2008). …”

Section: Making Sure It All Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

The JWST science instrument payload: mission context and status

Greenhouse

2014

SPIE Proceedings

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The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is the scientific successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. It is a cryogenic infrared space observatory with a 25 m 2 aperture (6 m class) telescope that will achieve diffraction limited angular resolution at a wavelength of 2 um. The science instrument payload includes four passively cooled near-infrared instruments providing broad-and narrow-band imagery, coronography, as well as multi-object and integral-field spectroscopy over the 0.6 < λ < 5.0 um spectrum. An actively cooled mid-infrared instrument provides broad-band imagery, coronography, and integral-field spectroscopy over the 5.0 < λ < 29 um spectrum. The JWST is being developed by NASA, in partnership with the European and Canadian Space Agencies, as a general user facility with science observations to be proposed by the international astronomical community in a manner similar to the Hubble Space Telescope. Technology development and mission design are complete. Construction, integration and verification testing is underway in all areas of the program. The JWST is on schedule for launch during 2018. This science case forms the basis from which detailed science and mission requirements were derived to guide engineering design and development of the JWST as a research tool. The science observations that are implemented by the JWST will be proposed by the international astronomical community in response to annual peer reviewed proposal opportunities (Rigby 2012). The discovery potential of the JWST relative to other concurrent facilities is discussed in Thronson, Stiavelli, and Tielens 2009. The emergence of the first sources of light in the universe marks the end of the "Dark Ages" in cosmic history (Rees 1997). The ultraviolet radiation field produced by these sources created the ionization that is observed in the local intergalactic medium (IGM). The JWST design provides unique capability to address key questions about this era in cosmic evolution including: what is the nature of the first galaxies; how and when did ionization of the space between them occur; and what sources caused the ionization? The JWST architecture is primarily shaped by requirements associated with answering the above questions.In contrast to the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), the JWST is designed as an infrared optimized telescope to observe the redshifted visible and ultraviolet radiation from the first galaxies and supernovae of the first stars. To achieve the nJy sensitivity needed to observe this era (z ~ 6-20), the observatory must have a telescope aperture that is larger in diameter than the largest rocket faring, and the entire optical system must be cooled to ~40-50 K. Finally, the resulting large deployable cryogenic telescope must achieve HST-like angular resolution, but at a 4X longer wavelength thus, also necessitating a large diameter telescope aperture. The major observatory design features (Table 1, Figure 1) trace directly from these requirements and differ markedly from those of the HST.

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Section: Making Sure It All Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

The JWST science instrument payload: mission context and status

Greenhouse

2014

SPIE Proceedings

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“…Uulike the Hubble Space telescope, which resides in low earth orbit, the JWST cannot be serviced by astronauts due to its more distant L2 point orbit. However, in contrast to prior space observatories, the JWST telescope and instrument optical systems employ a high degree of freedom for in-flight adjustment (Barto 2008), and lessons learned from prior observatory test programs are carefully taken into account in design of the JWST test program (Feinberg 2008).…”

Section: Making Sure It All Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

The James Webb Space Telescope: Mission overview and status

Greenhouse

2016

2016 IEEE Aerospace Conference

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Abstract- l. DESIGNING FOR DISCOVERYThe science motivation for the JWST mission was developed by a succession of international science working groups and is described by Gardner et aI. 2006, with updates maintained by the lWST flight science working group 1 at: http://www.stsci.eduljwst/sciencelwhitepapersi . This science case fonns the basis from which detailed science and mission requirements were derived to guide engineering design and development of the lWST as a research tool. The science observations that are actually implemented by the lWST will be proposed by the international astronomical community in response to annual peer reviewed proposal opportunities. The discovery potential of the lWST relative to other concurrent facilities is discussed in Thronson, Stiavelli, and Tielens 2009.The emergence of the first sources of light in the universe (after decoupling) marks the end of the "Dark Ages" in cosmic history (Rees 1997). The ultraviolet radiation field produced by these sources created the ionization that is observed in the local intergalactic medium (10M). The JWST design provides Unique capability to address key questions about this era in cosmic The lWST architecture is prinuirily shaped by requirements associated with answering the above questions. In contrast to the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), the lWST is designed as an infrared optimized telescope to observe the redshifted ultraviolet radiation from the first galaxies and supernovae of the flfSt stars. To achieve the nly sensitivity needed to observe this era (z -6-20), the observatory must have a telescope aperture that is larger in diameter than the largest rocket faring, and the entire optical system must be cooled to -40-50 K. Finally, the resulting large deployable cryogenic telescope must achieve HST-like angular resolution across the SWIR spectrum. The major observatory design features trace directly from these requirements and differ markedly from those of the HST.The lWST science instrument payload is designed to probe the first galaxies with high angular resolution nearinfrared image surveys in broad-band filters. This capability enables identification of primeval galaxies by searching their Lyman continuum break with multi-filter photometry. This prominent feature occurs in the near-infrared (1.3 -2.6 um) for galaxies with redshifts in the range of 10 -20. This broad-band technique exploits the maximum sensitivity of the observatory, such that the space density of galaxies can be probed to z-20. lWST high angular resolution imagery across the 0.6 -29 um spectrum will probe the assembly and evolution of galaxy motphologies to enable observation of when and how the Hubble sequence formed.Tbe lWST is designed to enable near-infrared multiobject spectroscopy of thousands of galaxies at several spectral resolutions (_ 10' , _10'). This capability will probe the chemical evolution and metallicity of galaxies, and the ionization state of the IGM across cosmic time. Low resolution multi-object spectroscopy will enable calibration of ph...

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“…[18][19][20][21][22][23] The ITM simulates the implementation of the commands sent by the ground system to the observatory to control actuators and acquire imagery, performs the optical ray trace and diffraction calculations to form the images, and simulates the instrument/ detector performance to create the digitized images sent to the ground for WFSC processing. The ITM processing uses preflight test and analysis data to provide realizations of the potential beginning states of the observatory at the beginning of commissioning and in conjunction with the WFSC processing goes through the commissioning process to achieve the final operational state.…”

Section: Wavefront Sensing and Controlmentioning

confidence: 99%

James Webb Space Telescope: large deployable cryogenic telescope in space

Lightsey¹,

et al. 2012

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Abstract. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is an infrared space telescope designed to explore four major science themes: first light and reionization, the assembly of galaxies, the birth of stars and protoplanetary systems, and planetary systems and origins of life. JWST is a segmented architecture telescope with an aperture of 6.6 m. It will operate at cryogenic temperature (40 K), achieved via passive cooling, in an orbit about the Earth-Sun second Lagrange point (L2). Passive cooling is facilitated by means of a large sunshield that provides thermal isolation and protection from direct illumination from the Sun. The large size of the telescope and spacecraft systems require that they are stowed for launch in a configuration that fits the Ariane 5 fairing, and then deployed after launch. Routine wavefront sensing and control measurements are used to achieve phasing of the segmented primary mirror and initial alignment of the telescope. A suite of instruments will provide the capability to observe over a spectral range from 0.6-to 27-μm wavelengths with imaging and spectroscopic configurations. An overview is presented of the architecture and selected optical design features of JWST are described.

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Optical performance verification of the James Webb Space Telescope

Cited by 18 publications

References 2 publications

The JWST science instrument payload: mission context and status

The JWST science instrument payload: mission context and status

The James Webb Space Telescope: Mission overview and status

James Webb Space Telescope: large deployable cryogenic telescope in space

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