The James Webb Space Telescope Mission: Optical Telescope Element Design, Development, and Performance
Abstract
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a large, infrared space telescope that has recently started its science program which will enable breakthroughs in astrophysics and planetary science. Notably, JWST will provide the very first observations of the earliest luminous objects in the Universe and start a new era of exoplanet atmospheric characterization. This transformative science is enabled by a 6.6 m telescope that is passively cooled with a 5-layer sunshield. The primary mirror is comprised of 18 controllable, low areal density hexagonal segments, that were aligned and phased relative to each other in orbit using innovative image-based wavefront sensing and control algorithms. This revolutionary telescope took more than two decades to develop with a widely distributed team across engineering disciplines. We present an overview of the telescope requirements, architecture, development, superb on-orbit performance, and lessons learned. JWST successfully demonstrates a segmented aperture space telescope and establishes a path to building even larger space telescopes.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2301.01779,
title = {The James Webb Space Telescope Mission: Optical Telescope Element Design, Development, and Performance},
author = {Michael W. McElwain and Lee D. Feinberg and Marshall D. Perrin and Mark Clampin and C. Matt Mountain and Matthew D. Lallo and Charles-Philippe Lajoie and Randy A. Kimble and Charles W. Bowers and Christopher C. Stark and D. Scott Acton and Ken Aiello and Charles Atkinson and Beth Barinek and Allison Barto and Scott Basinger and Tracy Beck and Matthew D. Bergkoetter and Marcel Bluth and Rene A. Boucarut and Gregory R. Brady and Keira J. Brooks and Bob Brown and John Byard and Larkin Carey and Maria Carrasquilla and Sid Celeste and Dan Chae and David Chaney and Pierre Chayer and Taylor Chonis and Lester Cohen and Helen J. Cole and Thomas M. Comeau and Matthew Coon and Eric Coppock and Laura Coyle and Rick Davis and Bruce H. Dean and Kenneth J. Dziak and Michael Eisenhower and Nicolas Flagey and Randy Franck and Benjamin Gallagher and Larry Gilman and Tiffany Glassman and Gary Golnik and Joseph J. Green and John Grieco and Shari Haase and Theodore J. Hadjimichael and John G. Hagopian and Walter G. Hahn and George F. Hartig and Keith A. Havey and William L. Hayden and Robert Hellekson and Brian Hicks and Sherie T. Holfeltz and Joseph M. Howard and Jesse A. Huguet and Brian Jahne and Leslie A. Johnson and John D. Johnston and Alden S. Jurling and Jeffrey R. Kegley and Scott Kennard and Ritva A. Keski-Kuha and J. Scott Knight and Bernard A. Kulp and Joshua S. Levi and Marie B. Levine and Paul Lightsey and Robert A. Luetgens and John C. Mather and Gary W. Matthews and Andrew G. McKay and Kimberly I. Mehalick and Marcio Meléndez and Ted Messer and Gary E. Mosier and Jess Murphy and Edmund P. Nelan and Malcolm B. Niedner and Darin M. Noël and Catherine M. Ohara and Raymond G. Ohl and Eugene Olczak and Shannon B. Osborne and Sang Park and Kevin Patton and Charles Perrygo and Laurent Pueyo and Lisbeth Quesnel and Dale Ranck and David C. Redding and Michael W. Regan and Paul Reynolds and Rich Rifelli and Jane R. Rigby and Derek Sabatke and Babak N. Saif and Thomas R. Scorse and Byoung-Joon Seo and Fang Shi and Norbert Sigrist and Koby Smith and J. Scott Smith and Erin C. Smith and Sangmo Tony Sohn and John Spina and H. Philip Stahl and Randal Telfer and Todd Terlecki and Scott C. Texter and David Van Buren and Julie M. Van Campen and Begoña Vila and Mark F. Voyton and Mark Waldman and Chanda B. Walker and Nick Weiser and Conrad Wells and Garrett West and Tony L. Whitman and Eric Wick and Erin Wolf and Greg Young and Thomas P. Zielinski},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2301.01779},
year = {2023}
}
Comments
accepted by PASP for JWST Overview Special Issue; 34 pages, 25 figures