Comprehensive coverage of all aspects of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), currently under construction and planned for launch sometime near 2018, is provided in this unique compilation of official NASA material. There is complete data on the JWST mission, science investigations, instruments and subsystems, unique mirror technology, the L2 orbit, special gyros, sunshield, infrared astronomy science to be obtained by the JWST, plus in-depth coverage of the funding controversy regarding the large cost overruns and schedule delays encountered by the project - with testimony from Congressional hearings, GAO reports, and the report of the Independent Comprehensive Review Panel (ICRP) along with NASA's response. Contents: PART 1 - JWST Basic Information: Spacecraft And Science Data, Project Status Updates; PART 2 - GAO Reports On JWST; PART 3 - Independent Comprehensive Review Panel (ICRP) Final Report; PART 4 - December 2011 Congressional Hearings on JWST. Dr. Roger Blandford noted in his testimony: JWST (formerly known as Next Generation Space Telescope) is a 6.5 meter diameter telescope. It is much larger than the Hubble Space Telescope (HST-2.4 meter diameter) and unlike HST, it will observe the universe from near the "second Lagrange Point", roughly four times as far away from the Earth as the moon but along the opposite direction to the sun. It will be protected from the sun by an elaborate sunshield. JWST is an engineering marvel and its 18 beryllium mirrors will be furled up within a rocket for launch and then deployed at its destination. This operation has to work perfectly as there will be no means of servicing it after launch. The principal scientific goals of JWST are bold and exciting and a culmination of nearly fifty years of extraordinary discovery about the universe and our place in it. They are: - to observe the very first stars, galaxies and black holes which formed at a time when the universe was about four percent of its present age - to discover how stars and planets actually form today within our Galaxy - to study planets orbiting nearby cool stars and assess their habitability However, JWST will also operate as an astronomical observatory and many, and perhaps most, areas of astronomy will be transformed by JWST in much the same way as they have been revolutionized by HST. JWST is specialized to observe in the infrared region of the spectrum. This is relevant because, although much light emitted by the most distant galaxies is in the optical and ultraviolet spectral bands, the wavelengths of this light are stretched roughly tenfold through the expansion of the universe into the infrared band, as we push out to greater distance and earlier times. There is a second reason why it is preferred to observe in the infrared and this is that the star-forming regions that will be intensively studied by JWST are filled with tiny grains of dust. These dust grains absorb and scatter optical and ultraviolet light but leave infrared radiation alone, enabling us to see deep inside them at these wavelengths. In addition, the light that is absorbed by dust will be re-emitted at infrared wavelengths and we can also observe the dust itself as a tell-tale tracer of star formation. As well as being the natural successor of HST, JWST is the infrared successor of the much smaller (0.85 meter diameter) Spitzer Space Telescope, with over 50 times the light-gathering ability and 40 times the resolution as well as the Herschel telescope, led by the European Space Agency, which only observes at longer infrared wavelengths than JWST. Given this huge increase in performance over and complementarity to previous telescopes, JWST promises to be a scientific "game changer".

The Hubble Space Telescope has produced the most stunning images of the cosmos humanity has ever seen. It has transformed our understanding of the universe around us, revealing new information about its age and evolution, the life cycle of stars, and the very existence of black holes, among other startling discoveries. But it took an amazing amount of work and perseverance to get the first space telescope up and running. The Universe in a Mirror tells the story of this telescope and the visionaries responsible for its extraordinary accomplishments. Robert Zimmerman takes readers behind the scenes of one of the most ambitious scientific instruments ever sent into space. After World War II, astronomer Lyman Spitzer and a handful of scientists waged a fifty-year struggle to build the first space telescope capable of seeing beyond Earth's atmospheric veil. Zimmerman shows how many of the telescope's advocates sacrificed careers and family to get it launched, and how others devoted their lives to Hubble only to have their hopes and reputations shattered when its mirror was found to be flawed. This is the story of an idea that would not die--and of the dauntless human spirit. Illustrated with striking color images, The Universe in a Mirror describes the heated battles between scientists and bureaucrats, the perseverance of astronauts to repair and maintain the telescope, and much more. Hubble, and the men and women behind it, opened a rare window onto the universe, dazzling humanity with sights never before seen. This book tells their remarkable story. A new afterword updates the reader on the May 2009 Hubble service mission and looks to the future of astronomy, including the prospect of a new space telescope to replace Hubble.

The steering committee was specifically asked to (1) provide an overview of the current state of astronomy and astrophysics science, and technology research in support of that science, with connections to other scientific areas where appropriate; (2) identify the most compelling science challenges and frontiers in astronomy and astrophysics, which shall motivate the committee’s strategy for the future; (3) develop a comprehensive research strategy to advance the frontiers of astronomy and astrophysics for the period 2022-2032 that will include identifying, recommending, and ranking the highest-priority research activities; (4) utilize and recommend decision rules, where appropriate, that can accommodate significant but reasonable deviations in the projected budget or changes in urgency precipitated by new discoveries or unanticipated competitive activities; (5) assess the state of the profession, including workforce and demographic issues in the field, identify areas of concern and importance to the community, and where possible, provide specific, actionable, and practical recommendations to the agencies and community to address these areas. This report proposes a broad, integrated plan for space- and ground-based astronomy and astrophysics for the decade 2023-2032. It also lays the foundations for further advances in the following decade.

This publication, "Making the Invisible Visible: A History of the Spitzer Infrared Telescope Facility (1971-2003)," makes visible the invisible forces that influenced the design of Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF's) innovative technology. The lessons learned by the project team over the course of building SIRTF, now better known as the Spitzer Space Telescope, are about managing innovation over time and in the face of uncertainty. These are universal lessons, applicable to any project whose stakeholders control the necessary resources. SIRTF's stakeholders focused on a variety of issues: technical, scientific, political, and economic, as well as organizational needs and goals. What made SIRTF's evolution particularly difficult was that the stakeholders changed over time-in their composition, goals, and influence.

In preparing the report, Astronomy and Astrophysics in the New Millenium , the AASC made use of a series of panel reports that address various aspects of ground- and space-based astronomy and astrophysics. These reports provide in-depth technical detail. Astronomy and Astrophysics in the New Millenium: An Overview summarizes the science goals and recommended initiatives in a short, richly illustrated, non-technical booklet.

The riveting quest to construct the machine that would take on the world’s greatest human chess player—told by the man who built it On May 11, 1997, millions worldwide heard news of a stunning victory, as a machine defeated the defending world chess champion, Garry Kasparov. Behind Deep Blue tells the inside story of the quest to create the mother of all chess machines and what happened at the two historic Deep Blue vs. Kasparov matches. Feng-hsiung Hsu, the system architect of Deep Blue, reveals how a modest student project started at Carnegie Mellon in 1985 led to the production of a multimillion-dollar supercomputer. Hsu discusses the setbacks, tensions, and rivalries in the race to develop the ultimate chess machine, and the wild controversies that culminated in the final triumph over the world's greatest human player. With a new foreword by Jon Kleinberg and a new preface from the author, Behind Deep Blue offers a remarkable look at one of the most famous advances in artificial intelligence, and the brilliant toolmaker who invented it.