Table of Contents

Satellites

James Webb Space Telescope, Successor to Hubble

Canada's contribution

Canada is providing hardware for JWST: the Fine Guidance Sensor and Tuneable Filter Imager (FGS and TFI).

The FGS is integral to the attitude control system of JWST, and consists of two fully redundant cameras that will report precise (3.5 milli-arcseconds) pointing information of JWST. Canadian expertise in this area has been established with the successful fine error sensors for the FUSE mission.

Packaged with the FGS but functionally independent, the Tuneable Filter Imager is a unique, narrow-band camera with imaging capability. For example, it will allow astronomers to search for extrasolar planets through a technique called coronography, which means that the light from a star will be blocked out so that astronomers can see what is in the star's neighbourhood. The TFI will tune in at near infrared wavelengths between 1.6 to 4.9 microns, with a gap in sensitivity between 2.6 and 3.1 microns.

The Canadian Project Scientist for JWST is Dr. John Hutchings of the Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics, National Research Council of Canada. Dr. René Doyon, of the Université de Montréal is the TFI principal investigator. The prime contractor for the FGS and TFI is COMDEV.