JWST on an infrared mission – with a little help from its SKAO friends

It was a day astronomers around the world will never forget: watching the latest and greatest space telescope blast off to great scientific discoveries.

The James Webb Space Telescope – an international collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency – is often described as the successor of the beloved Hubble Space Telescope. A great improvement indeed, Webb being much bigger (6.5m versus 2.4m) and operating at lower frequencies, namely the infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum.

In our featured image, the telescope achieved the “fine phasing” stage in the process of aligning its 18 mirrors, just over two months after its 25 December 2021 launch. “[At] this key stage in the commissioning of Webb’s Optical Telescope Element, every optical parameter that has been checked and tested is performing at, or above, expectations,” the team announced. Webb is only expected to start delivering its first images in the second half of this year, though, so patience is the key word here.

Many SKAO team members had a special interest in the launch as they’ve contributed to this moment in one way or another over the years. In alphabetical order, they are:

The Head of the Director-General’s Office at the SKAO, Dr Simon Berry, was involved in the funding and programme management of the telescope’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) when he worked at the predecessor of the UK’s Science and Technology Facilities Council.

Dr Pamela Klaassen, who has contributed significantly to the SKA’s software, works for the UK Astronomy Technology Centre as an instrument scientist supporting the MIRI instrument. Also on the software front, SKA Regional Centre Architect Jesus Salgado participated in the design of the telescope’s Science Archive as technical leader.

Head of Assurance Tim Stevenson was the structural lead engineer for MIRI, making him responsible for the instrument’s primary structure of 2kg that had to withstand a force equivalent to nine tonnes during launch. SKAO Product Assurance Engineer Raphaël Thénevin worked as a launch operational manager for Ariane 5, Vega and Soyuz launch systems at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana as well as the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Siberia.

Senior Project Manager for SKA-Low André van Es initiated the MIRI spectrograph proposal and then built and tested the system with colleagues.

Finally, a special mention to Observation Management and Controls Software Architect Alan Bridger and his wife Prof. Gilian Wright - the European principal investigator for the MIRI instrument - who on launch day would have been understandably nervous!

JWST achieved the “fine phasing” stage in the process of aligning its 18 mirrors, just over two months after its 25 December 2021 launch

Credit: NASA/STScI