Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

The James Webb Space Telescope Mission: Optical Telescope Element Design, Development, and Performance

2023; Institute of Physics; Volume: 135; Issue: 1047 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1088/1538-3873/acada0

1538-3873

Michael W. McElwain, Lee Feinberg, Marshall D. Perrin, Mark Clampin, C. M. Mountain, Matthew Lallo, Charles-Philippe Lajoie, Randy A. Kimble, Charles W. Bowers, Christopher C. Stark, D. Scott Acton, Charles M. Atkinson, Beth Barinek, Allison Barto, Scott A. Basinger, Tracy L. Beck, Matthew D. Bergkoetter, Marcel Bluth, Rene A. Boucarut, Gregory R. Brady, Keira Brooks, Robert Brown, John Byard, Larkin Carey, María Cristina Carrasquilla, Dan Chae, David Chaney, P. Chayer, Taylor S. Chonis, Lester M. Cohen, Helen J. Cole, Thomas Comeau, Matthew Coon, Eric Coppock, Laura Coyle, Bruce H. Dean, Kenneth J. Dziak, Michael Eisenhower, Nicolas Flagey, Randy Franck, Benjamin Gallagher, Larry Gilman, Tiffany Glassman, Joseph J. Green, John P. Grieco, Shari Haase, Theodore J. Hadjimichael, John G. Hagopian, Walter G. Hahn, G. Hartig, Keith Havey, William L. Hayden, Robert Hellekson, Brian M. Hicks, S. T. Holfeltz, Joseph M. Howard, Jesse A. Huguet, Brian Jahne, Leslie A. Johnson, John D. Johnston, Alden S. Jurling, Jeffrey R. Kegley, Scott Kennard, Ritva Keski-Kuha, J. Scott Knight, B. A. Kulp, Joshua S. Levi, Marie Levine, Paul A. Lightsey, Robert A. Luetgens, John C. Mather, Gary Matthews, Andrew McKay, Kimberly I. Mehalick, M. Meléndez, Gary E. Mosier, Jess Murphy, Edmund Nelan, M. B. Niedner, Darin M. Nol, Catherine M. Ohara, Raymond G. Ohl, Eugene Olczak, Shannon Osborne, Sang Chan Park, Charles M. Perrygo, Laurent Pueyo, David C. Redding, Michael W. Regan, Paul R. Reynolds, Rich Rifelli, Jane R. Rigby, Derek Sabatke, Babak N. Saif, Thomas R. Scorse, Byoung-Joon Seo, Fang Shi, Norbert Sigrist, Koby Smith, J. Scott Smith, Erin Smith, Sangmo Tony Sohn, Harald Stahl, Randal Telfer, Todd Terlecki, S. Texter, David Van Buren, Julie M. Van Campen, Begoña Vila, Mark F. Voyton, Mark Waldman, Chanda Walker, Nick Weiser, Conrad Wells, Garrett West, Tony Whitman, Erin Wolf, Thomas P. Zielinski,

Astronomy and Astrophysical Research

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 wave front 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.