James Webb Space Telescope Testing to Find Infrared Light for Christmas (Forwarded)

Rob Gutro
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. December 6, 2007
301-286-4044

Gill Ormrod
Science and Technology Facilities Council Press Office, England
+44 (0) 1793 442012

RELEASE NO. 07-77

James Webb Space Telescope Testing to Find Infrared Light for Christmas

GREENBELT, Md. -- A model of the James Webb Space Telescope's Mid-InfraRed
Instrument will be tested before Christmas at the Rutherford Appleton
Laboratory in Oxfordshire, England to ensure the final instrument can see
infrared light.

Observing the universe in the infrared light portion of the spectrum is
important because many objects scientists want to observe in space are far
too cold to radiate at shorter wavelengths that can be seen as visible
light, but they radiate strongly in infrared light.

The Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI) is one of four sophisticated instruments
onboard the Webb telescope which will study the early universe and
properties of materials forming around new born stars in unprecedented
detail. It will also be able to image directly massive planets orbiting
other stars.

Speaking at the 3rd Appleton Space Conference on Dec. 6, European Consortium
Lead for MIRI, Dr. Gillian Wright from the U.K. Astronomy Technology Centre
(ATC) in Edinburgh said, "It is extremely exciting, after working on the
project since 1998, to begin to test a complete instrument. This will
provide scientists with real data which they can use to understand the best
ways of making discoveries with the instrument."

MIRI's development is an effort between NASA and the European Space Agency
(ESA). NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena (JPL), Calif, leads the
NASA effort and is responsible for the development of MIRI's detectors, its
cryocooler, and flight software.

MIRI has already undergone alignment checks with a piece of test equipment
simulating the Integrated Science Instrument Module, the part of the
spacecraft where the MIRI will be attached. This test equipment was supplied
by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. who is leading the
development of the Webb observatory.

MIRI is the first of the Webb telescope instruments to reach this phase of
cryogenic performance testing and marks a significant milestone for this
international team.

"The testing is being undertaken at the STFC's Rutherford Appleton
Laboratory in Oxfordshire where all MIRI's subsystems from collaborators in
Europe and NASA's JPL are integrated and tested in full," says Matt
Greenhouse, Integrated Science Instrument Module scientist on the Webb
Telescope project at NASA Goddard. This involves thermal and electromagnetic
calibration and scientific and environmental testing.

Dr. Tanya Lim, who leads the international MIRI testing team explains,
"Given the international nature of this project it is essential to bring
together both instrument and test equipment components from around the world
to ensure that they work together." She adds, "We will also be using the
instrument flight software which will need to work with the spacecraft and
ground software systems in order to command the instrument, simulate
telemetry to the ground and generate images from the test environment."

The MIRI testing team are working around the clock until the completion of
the first tests just before Christmas. Paul Eccleston, MIRI Assembly,
Integration and Test Lead adds, "MIRI is the largest individual flight
instrument that has been built at RAL, and has presented unusual challenges
particularly with regard to cooling and thermal control. The instrument will
operate at temperatures much lower than the rest of the spacecraft. As a
result, the first two weeks of testing involved cooling the instrument down
to its operational temperature of -267 C, only 6.2K above absolute zero."

During spring 2008, further testing will take place using the MIRI Telescope
Simulator -- a special facility being built in Spain. This simulator is
unique to MIRI and will be able to simulate the stars that will be seen.

The James Webb Space Telescope is a 21st century space observatory that will
peer back more than 13 billion years in time to understand the formation of
galaxies, stars and planets and the evolution of our own solar system. It is
expected to launch in 2013. The telescope is a joint project of NASA, the
European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.

For related images and more information, please visit on the Web:
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/..._infrared.html

For the U.K. ATC MIRI Web page, please visit:
http://www.roe.ac.uk/ukatc/projects/miri/index.html

For the MIRI website at the Space Telescope Science Institute:
http://www.stsci.edu/jwst/instruments/miri/