NASA and ESA Sign
Agreements for Future Co-operation
(18 June 2007) At a ceremony held
Monday at the International Paris Air Show at Le Bourget, France, NASA
Administrator Michael Griffin and European Space Agency (ESA) Director General
Jean-Jacques Dordain signed two agreements defining the terms of co-operation
on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and the Laser Interferometer Space
Antenna (LISA) Pathfinder mission.
Although it will operate over
a different range of wavelengths, the James Webb Space Telescope is considered
the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. Its launch is targeted for 2013
and it will operate for at least five years.
The telescope is a mission
of international co-operation between NASA, ESA and the Canadian Space Agency
to investigate the origin and evolution of galaxies, stars and planetary
systems.
At the heart of the observatory is a large telescope, which has
a primary mirror measuring 21.3 feet in diameter (compared to 7.9 feet for
Hubble) that provides a relatively large field of view.
A set of four
sophisticated instruments, including a fine guidance sensor for precision
pointing, will combine superb imaging capability at visible and infrared
wavelengths with various spectroscopic modes to learn about the chemistry and
evolution of objects in our universe.
The telescope will operate well
outside the Earth's atmosphere at a spot in space called the second Lagrangian
point or "L2" located 1 million miles - or four times farther than the moon's
orbit - in the direction opposite the sun. From this location, the observatory
is expected to revolutionise our view of the cosmos as Hubble
has.
According to the agreement, NASA is responsible for the overall
management and operation of the JWST mission and will build the spacecraft, the
telescope and the platform that will house the instruments. ESA will provide an
Ariane 5 ECA rocket for the telescope's launch.
NASA also will provide a
major instrument, the Near-Infrared Camera, through the University of Arizona,
Tucson. ESA will provide the Near-Infrared Spectrograph operating over similar
wavelengths. NASA will provide the instrument's detectors, which will measure
the wavelengths of light emanating from the stars being observed.
NASA
also will provide the microshutters, which are used to select which star in the
field of view will be observed by the detectors.
The third instrument on
board is the Mid-Infrared Instrument. It is being built through a consortium of
nationally funded European institutions, which are responsible for the
instrument's optical assembly and NASA, with co-ordination through ESA. Canada
will provide the fourth instrument on board, the Fine Guidance Sensor/Tuneable
Filter Imager.
"The signing of this agreement on JWST, based on a
long-standing and consolidated co-operation between ESA and NASA, will make
history once more," said Dordain. "In particular, we are very proud to use
Ariane 5 to put this great observatory into space."
"We're delighted to
have ESA's participation on the James Webb Space Telescope," said Griffin. "The
tremendous scientific success of the Hubble Space Telescope can be attributed
to the co-operative efforts between our two agencies. We expect that, as
Hubble's successor, the James Webb Space Telescope also will make profound
astronomical observations and discoveries. When it does, we can be proud that
it, too, is a project of international co-operation."
At today's
ceremony, the leaders of both agencies also signed an official agreement on the
ESA-initiated Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) Pathfinder mission,
currently targeted for launch in early 2010. LISA Pathfinder is aimed at
demonstrating the technologies needed for a planned future joint ESA-NASA LISA
mission that will detect gravitational waves in space and test the theory of
general relativity.
Under this agreement, ESA will design, develop,
launch and operate the LISA Pathfinder spacecraft. A consortium of European
scientific institutes will provide the LISA Technology Package, which features
a sensor to detect non-gravitational forces on the spacecraft.
NASA will
provide the Disturbance Reduction System Package. That package will work in
tandem with the technology package and consists of thrusters that produce a
minute level of force, combined with control systems and
software.
(source: NASA)