14 DAY TRIAL // Officials with the American space agency announce the successful integration of the Near Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) instrument onto the Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM) of the NASA James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). This is the final instrument to undergo the integration process, marking an important milestone in the project where the ISIM is currently completed.
NIRSpec joined the other three instruments on the module – the Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam), the Fine Guidance Sensor/ Near Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (FGS/NIRISS), and the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) – late last month, NASA officials say. The completion of the instrument module is one of the most important steps in the entire JWST program.
NIRSpec was built for NASA by the European Space Agency (ESA), through its main contractor Astrium GmbH, from Germany. The multi-object spectrograph can measure the near-infrared spectrum of 100 objects simultaneously, including stars and galaxies. It can conduct these investigations with low, medium and high spectral resolutions effortlessly.
With ISIM completed, the assembly of the JWST can now proceed. The $8.8 billion (€6.4 billion) telescope – designed to be the successor of the venerable NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope – is currently scheduled for launch sometime in 2018. The James Webb will be able to perform a wide range of studies, from observing the earliest stars in the Universe to identifying distant exoplanets.