The James Webb Space Telescope: Friday, September 10, 2021 Embassy of France Washington, DC - France-Science
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The James Webb
Space Telescope:
Finding First Light & The Power
of Science Through Partnerships
Friday, September 10, 2021
Embassy of France
Washington, DC
A WELCOME FROM HIS EXCELLENCY PHILIPPE ÉTIENNE
Ambassador of France to the United States
This past July, astronomers discovered evidence of water evaporation
in the atmosphere of Jupiter's moon Ganymede. This major discovery
— as well as many others — was made possible by the incredible
capabilities of the Hubble Space Telescope, which has been in orbit
for more than 30 years. In a few months, the James Webb Space
Telescope (JWST) will be taking over from Hubble; its outstanding
technological advances will allow the scientific community to push
our knowledge of the universe and its origins even further, getting
closer to the beginning of time and the very first galaxies. Launched
by an Ariane 5 from the European spaceport in French Guiana, JWST
perfectly embodies the fruitful, long-standing partnership between
the United States, France, and Europe in space. As Ambassador of
France to the United States, I am very proud and honored to
welcome the various stakeholders whose energy and expertise make this historical project possible.
They truly embody the values of transatlantic cooperation for the benefit of science and humanity.
His Excellency Philippe ÉTIENNE
Ambassador of France to the United States of America
“Space is unforgiving… It takes all talents to make progress."
— Amb. Philippe Étienne
The Symposium WELCOME Aurélie Bonal Deputy Chief of Mission – Embassy of France in the United States PART 1 MISSION PARTNERSHIPS: PAST, PRESENT, & FUTURE Christian Davenport, Moderator Space and Defense Reporter – The Washington Post Stéphane Israël Chief Executive Officer – Arianespace, SAS Thomas Zurbuchen Associate Administrator, Science Mission Directorate – NASA PART 2 THE SCIENCE OF THE JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE Christian Davenport, Moderator Space and Defense Reporter – The Washington Post Makenzie Lystrup Vice President and General Manager, Civil Space Strategic Business Unit – Ball Aerospace Antonella Nota STScI Associate Director – European Space Agency (ESA) Gregory Robinson James Webb Space Telescope Program Director – NASA Scott Willoughby Vice President and Program Manager for The Webb Telescope – Northrop Grumman CONCLUSION Debra Dunn Executive Director – French-American Cultural Foundation (F-ACF)
The Symposium Panelists
CHRISTIAN DAVENPORT (Moderator)
Space and Defense Reporter — The Washington Post
Christian Davenport covers NASA and the space industry for the Washington Post’s
Financial desk. He joined the Post in 2000 and has had an array of assignments,
including covering the D.C.-area sniper shootings, the Abu Ghraib scandal, the Fort
Hood shootings and the burial problems at Arlington National Cemetery. Before
joining the Financial staff, Davenport was an editor on the Metro desk, overseeing
coverage of local government and politics. He has also worked at Newsday, the Philadelphia Inquirer and the
Austin American-Statesman, and is the author of two books, The Space Barons: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and the
Quest to Colonize the Cosmos (PublicAffairs, 2018) and As You Were: To War and Back with the Black Hawk
Battalion of the Virginia National Guard (Wiley, 2009). Davenport is a Peabody Award recipient (2010), and was
a member of teams that were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize in 2005, 2010, and 2011.
STÉPHANE ISRAËL
Chief Executive Officer — Arianespace, SAS
Stéphane Israël is the Chief Executive Officer of Arianespace, SAS, the world’s
leading launch services company. He also is a member of the Executive Committee
of ArianeGroup and the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Starsem, the Euro-
Russian company in charge of the commercial operation of the Soyuz launcher at
the Baikonur Cosmodrome. He holds degrees from the Ecole Normale Supérieure
and the Ecole Nationale d’Administration (ENA). He joined Airbus Group in 2007,
first as advisor to the CEO, then in various operational management positions in the
group’s space division. From May 2012 to April 2013, he was chief of staff in the cabinet of the French Minister
for Productive Recovery, Ministry of Industry, Digital Economy, SMEs and Innovation. Stéphane Israël was
named Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Arianespace in April 2013.
THOMAS ZURBUCHEN
Associate Administrator, Science Mission Directorate — NASA
As NASA’s Associate Administrator for the Science Mission Directorate, Dr. Zurbuchen
sets the NASA Science strategy and inspires the teams to carry it out. On a daily basis,
Zurbuchen works to ensure that NASA’s science missions build partnerships across
disciplines and with industry and other nations to generate new questions and help
advance the frontiers of knowledge and exploration. He brings a wealth of scientific
research, engineering experience and hands-on knowledge to NASA’s world-class
team of scientists and engineers. He earned his doctorate and Master of Science
degrees in physics from the University of Bern in Switzerland. His honors include
multiple NASA group achievement awards, induction as a member of the International Academy of
Astronautics, a NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal, and the 2018 Heinrich-Greinacher prize, the leading
science-related recognition from the University of Bern. Zurbuchen engages people worldwide with NASA’s
work and the inspiration of science. He can be found on Twitter @Dr_ThomasZ.
MAKENZIE LYSTRUP
Vice President and General Manager, Civil Space Strategic
Business Unit — Ball Aerospace
As Vice President and General Manager of Civil Space, Dr. Makenzie Lystrup is
responsible for Ball Aerospace’s portfolio of civil space systems that include science,
operational weather and Earth observation, and advanced technologies development
objectives. She most recently served as senior director, Civil Space Advanced Systems
and Business Development, where she managed new business activities for NASA,
NOAA and other civilian U.S. government agencies as well as for academia and other
science organizations. Previously, Lystrup worked in the U.S. House of Representatives
as a Congressional Science & Technology Policy Fellow. In 2019, Lystrup was elected to the rank of Fellow of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science for her distinguished record in the fields of planetary
science and infrared astronomy, science policy and advocacy, and aerospace leadership. Lystrup received a B.S.
in physics from Portland State University, and a Ph.D in astrophysics from University College London.
ANTONELLA NOTA
STScI Associate Director — European Space Agency (ESA)
As the associate director of the European Space Agency (ESA), Dr. Antonella Nota
oversees all ESA personnel who support the Hubble Space Telescope mission,
and is responsible for Hubble outreach efforts in Europe, including dissemination
of the observatory’s results and communications with the public. She also directs
all science policies and public communications that support the James Webb
Space Telescope (JWST) and additionally serves as the ESA project scientist for
Hubble and JWST guest observers. Dr. Nota joined the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in 1986 and
became a member of the ESA staff in 1990. She spent the first 10 years of her career at the Institute supporting
Hubble’s instrument science operations. Dr. Nota has published more than 200 articles in astronomical journals
and books, and is a member of the American Astronomical Society (AAS), the IAU (International Astronomical
Union) Symposia, and L’Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti.
GREGORY ROBINSON
James Webb Space Telescope Program Director — NASA
Gregory L. Robinson is the Director for the James Webb Space Telescope Program
in the NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD). He also coordinates program and
project content with the other NASA Mission Directorates, and federal agencies in
which SMD has partnerships. SMD has a portfolio of 97 missions in formulation,
development, and operations. Prior to Mr. Robinson’s reassignment to NASA
Headquarters in 1999, he spent 11 years in various leadership positions at NASA’s
Goddard Space Flight Center. During his time with NASA, Mr. Robinson has
received numerous individual and group performance awards. He holds a
Bachelor’s degree in Math from Virginia Union University; a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from
Howard University; and a Master of Business Administration from Averett College. He also attended Harvard
University, Kennedy School of Government, Senior Executive Fellows Program; and the Federal Executive
Institute (Leadership for a Democratic Society).
SCOTT WILLOUGHBY
Vice President and Program Manager for The Webb Telescope —
Northrop Grumman
Scott P. Willoughby is the Vice President of Operations for Strategic Space Systems
Division (SSSD) at Northrop Grumman’s Space Systems sector, a premier provider
of space and launch systems serving national security, civil and commercial
customers. In addition to his current role as vice president of Operations for the
SSSD division, Willoughby serves as the vice president and program manager for the
James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) overseeing all aspects of the program. Prior
to that, Willoughby had accumulated broad experience across many process areas
including systems engineering; integration, test and launch; antenna products; and project and functional
management. He received a Bachelor's degree, summa cum laude, in Electrical Engineering from Lehigh
University in 1989, and a Master's degree in Communication Systems from the University of Southern California
in 1991. He is also a graduate of the UCLA Executive Program at the Anderson School.
With thanks to NASA, the ESA, and other respective partners for use of the images featured throughout.
The JWST: Key Facts
Who Was James Webb?
James E. Webb ran NASA from February 1961 to October 1968. He believed the agency had to strike
a balance between human space flight and science.
Premier Observatory
Webb will be the premier space observatory for astronomers worldwide, extending the tantalizing
discoveries of the Hubble Space Telescope.
Largest Telescope in Space
Webb will be the largest telescope ever placed in space; 100 times more powerful than Hubble and
so big it has to fold origami-style to fit in the rocket, and will unfold like a "Transformer" in space.
The First Stars and Galaxies
With unprecedented infrared sensitivity, it will peer
back in time over 13.5 billion years to see the first
galaxies born after the Big Bang.
How Galaxies Assemble
Webb will help astronomers to compare the faintest,
earliest galaxies to today's grand spirals and ellipticals,
helping us to understand how galaxies assemble over
billions of years.
Birth of Stars and Planetary Systems
Webb will be able to see right through and into
massive clouds of dust that are opaque to visible-light
observatories like Hubble, where stars and planetary
systems are being born.
Exoplanets
Webb will tell us more about the atmospheres of
extrasolar planets, and perhaps even find the building
blocks of life elsewhere in the universe. In addition to other planetary systems, Webb will also study
objects within our own Solar System.
Orbit
Webb will orbit the sun, a million miles away from Earth at the second Lagrange point. (L2 is four
times further away than the moon!)
Launch
Webb will launch in 2021 from French Guiana. (The expected mission lifetime is 5-10+ years.)
Build, Integration and Test
Webb has a team of over 1,200 skilled scientists, engineers and technicians from 14 countries and more
than 29 U.S. states as well as the District of Columbia building it. The team is a joint NASA/ESA/CSA
mission. Assembly and testing of the mirror and instruments occurred at NASA Goddard.
Technology Innovations Webb has created spinoff technologies. (Including a new LASIK-like procedure for your eyes!) Webb vs Hubble vs Spitzer Webb’s 18-segment primary mirror is over six times bigger in area than Hubble's and will be ~100x more powerful. (How big is it? approximately 6.5 m in diameter.) It has a secondary mirror nearly as big as Spitzer's primary. (The secondary mirror is 0.74 m in diameter. Spitzer's primary is 0.85 m in diameter.) Size Webb is about half the size of a 737 yet less than 8% of the mass of a 737. It will be the biggest telescope ever launched into space. (Webb has a total mass of 6,200 kg, the maximum mass of a 737 is 79,010 kg.) Sunshield and Temperature Extremes Thanks to the sunshield, the temperature is roughly 600 degrees Fahrenheit less on the cold, shaded side of the observatory than it is on the hot, sunlit side. Mirrors Webb’s primary mirror has 18 segments that work together as one; they can all be individually adjusted. Its segments have a mass of ~20 kg (44 lbs.) each and are 4.3 feet tall. (You could lift one pretty easily.) It requires only about a golf ball's worth of gold coat for the huge primary mirror. (The coating is so thin that a human hair is 1,000 times thicker!) Deployment Webb folds origami-style to fit in the Ariane 5 rocket; it unfolds once in space. (How small does it fold up? To about a quarter of its longest dimension so it fits in the 5 m wide rocket.) Operating Temperature Webb operates at just a few degrees above absolute zero! Its operating temperature is under 50K, or -370F. Wavelengths Webb will see the universe in light invisible to human eyes. Though it sees primarily infrared light, it can also see red and gold visible light. (Webb’s wavelength range is 0.6 to 28.5 microns.) Sensitivity and Resolution Webb is so sensitive, it could detect the heat signature of a bumblebee at the distance of the moon, and can see details the size of a U.S. penny at the distance of about 24 miles (40 km). (That's a limiting sensitivity of ~11 nJy and spatial resolution of better than 0.1 arc-second at 2 microns.) Exoplanet Atmospheres Webb can see water vapor in extrasolar planet atmospheres. (If there were chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) on an exoplanet, Webb would see them.)
For Further Discussion
That NASA has entrusted a French company,
Arianespace — the world’s first commercial
launch service provider — with the delivery
of the largest telescope ever placed into
orbit, has profound implications for the
future of U.S.-France cooperation and
partnerships in space, as well as other
sectors.
As the first two proponents of democracy in
the world, the United States and France are
intensely concerned with the question of
how values of freedom and equality translate to pursuits in space. While democracy is a familiar - if
sometimes imperfect - tool to advance and preserve these values on earth, can it protect these
important values in space? Some questions and topics for thought might include:
• The James Webb Space Telescope: NASA has said the James Webb Space Telescope “will
fundamentally alter our understanding of the universe” and that it will be “the premier space
observatory for astronomers worldwide.” How might its model of international cooperation be
challenged and applied to other space exploration projects?
• Access to Space: What more could or should be done as we seek to expand this frontier for all?
• The Past and the Future: What can be learned from historical space exploration trends, and
what is the outlook for the regulatory future? For additional international space treaties?
• Conservation: What can be done to balance the human impact upon space with the need for
expanded exploration and other capabilities? Does the concept of “off planet” industrialization
to spare the earth’s environment seem feasible?
• Security in Orbit: Satellite security is an obvious concern for democratized nations, given
terrestrial dependence upon this technology. How can potential threats be countered, while also
avoiding conflict?
• New Partnerships: What does the evolving balance between traditional and entrepreneurial
approaches to space hold for the future — i.e., new partnerships between governmental bodies,
and the rapidly expanding commercial space sector?Since its 1998 founding, the French-American Cultural Foundation (F-ACF) —
which organized this symposium — has served as the leading U.S. nonprofit
promoting the cultural dimension of the Transatlantic relationship
between America and its oldest democratic partner, France.
To learn more about our other projects, visit:
https://frenchamericancultural.org
With our grateful thanks to these partner organizations:You can also read
