James Webb Space Telescope Program (913K)
Investment ID: 026-000001020
Overview
Program Title
James Webb Space Telescope Program (913K)
Description
JWST will be the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It will study every phase in the history of our Universe, ranging from the first luminous glows after the Big Bang, to the formation of solar systems. Expected launch is March 2021 and will formally enter operations phase (phase associated with this IT investment) beginning October 2021. Financial data in this IT investment assumes a 2018 launch and needs to be updated in the future.
Type of Program
Major IT Investments
Multi-Agency Category
Not Applicable
Investment Detail
The Space Science Institute (STScI), under contract to NASA, is responsible for the development and operation of the JWST Science and Operations Center (S&OC). Located on the campus of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD, the S&OC is a collection of computer hardware, software and personnel that will enable users from around the world to propose astronomical observations using JWST science instruments, schedule those observations that are peer-selected for their scientific value, upload the necessary commands to the JWST to enable and execute those observations, receive and process the resultant data from those observations and make the data available to the scientific community. The development of the S&OC is nearing final completion and testing and rehearsals to ensure the systems and personnel are ready to support JWST launch and operations are currently underway. To date, computer hardware, software, networks and operations personnel have been procured for the subsystems that constitute the S&OC: Proposal Planning Subsystem, Operations Scripts Subsystem, Flight Operations Subsystem, Data Management Subsystem,Project Reference Database Subsystem and Wavefront Sensing and Control Software Subsystem. Also, facility modifications were made to the STScI to create the Mission Operations Center, an operations space for the Flight Operations Subsystem and the flight operations team.