STScI Annual Report 2002: A Living Mission

48 achievements
Prior to the re-plan effort, the Institute submitted a revised proposal for developing the S&OC that
reduced its costs significantly by using government-provided commanding software and communications
services. In addition, the Institute will delay the development of the JWST ground system until after the
next Hubble servicing mission. Although the Institute will not play a major role in the early development
and testing of the science instruments and the spacecraft avionics, we will complete the S&OC system in
time for end-to-end testing with the completed spacecraft in 2009.
The Institute had originally proposed a National Virtual Observatory extension to the JWST archive.
That work is now postponed until several years after launch. With this exception, the revised observatory
should provide the full scientific capabilities of JWST to the astronomy community.
The Independent Detector Testing Laboratory (IDTL, a collaboration of the Institute, the Johns
Hopkins University, and a number of ground-based observatories) accomplished several milestones in
2002. NASA funded the IDTL to test and verify independently the low background performance of near
infrared detector technologies for JWST.
In June 2002, the IDTL demonstrated its low-background capabilities with a 1 K x 1 K HgCdTe imager,
obtaining dark currents of less than 0.02 e - pixel -1 sec -1 . The lab joins the very small list of facilities that
are capable of testing such devices in the challenging operating regime of JWST. The lab team completed
a suite of performance tests on the 1 K x 1 K and 2 K x 2 K HgCdTe devices and demonstrated the ability
to operate the readout portions of similar InSb devices, which will become available in 2003. The IDTL
test results will help NASA and the Principle Investigators decide in November which technology will be
used on JWST. Within the constraints of the ITAR (International Trade in Arms Regulations), the IDTL
makes its test procedures and results available to the astronomical community for independent review
and assistance.
Throughout 2002, the Institute has supported the NASA JWST Project in public outreach. JWST
exhibits at the semi-annual American Astronomical Society meetings have encouraged hundreds of
interested astronomers to learn about the JWST science mission and the new technologies that enable it.
At the 2002 summer meeting in Albuquerque, the Institute unveiled a new exhibit featuring a sunshieldinspired
tent and a large science mural capturing the NASA origins theme. The public-oriented website
and the astronomer-friendly website now reflect the mission’s new identity, the new JWST architecture,
and the selected instrument teams and members of the Science Working Group.
Goal 3: Operate a world-class data archive
We will continue to run the best astronomical data archive in the world, adding new data sets, providing new
research tools, and collaborating with other data centers to provide an international astronomy data system.
The Multimission Archive at Space Telescope (MAST) is one of the world’s best and most widely used
data archives. It offers users convenient search and retrieval utilities that access data from 17 missions
and surveys, including Hubble. Even as MAST’s data holdings have grown to over 15 terabytes, our
data retrieval rate regularly exceeds our ingest rate. This high demand is a tribute both to the value the
community places on these data and the success of our efforts to make archival research easy and
scientifically productive.
To keep MAST on the cutting edge, we strive to improve the key functions of a modern archive. We
ensure the preservation of astrophysical data into the indefinite future with reliable storage technologies.
Our scientific and technical expertise guides the processing, re-analysis, and interpretation of the data
holdings. We develop multimission analysis and support tools. We define data, software, and access standards.
We coordinate with other national and international data centers to enhance inter-archive communication.
When investigating the physical processes in the formation and evolution of stars, galaxies, and
large-scale structure, astronomers use data from a wide range of the electromagnetic spectrum. The
MAST holdings—ultraviolet, optical, and near-infrared images and spectra—are a key resource for
these investigations.
In 2002, we undertook to expand access to important astrophysics data holdings, increase the
productivity of our user community, make it even easier to access data, and enhance the scientific value
of our data.