The James Webb Space Telescope Mission: Optical Telescope Element Design, Development, and Performance
Creators: name: McElwain, Michael W.
name: Feinberg, Lee D.
name: Perrin, Marshall D.
name: Clampin, Mark
name: Mountain, C. Matt
name: Lallo, Matthew D.
name: Lajoie, Charles-Philippe
name: Kimble, Randy A.
name: Bowers, Charles W.
name: Stark, Christopher C.
name: Acton, D. Scott
name: Aiello, Ken
name: Atkinson, Charles
name: Barinek, Beth
name: Barto, Allison
name: Basinger, Scott
name: Beck, Tracy
name: Bergkoetter, Matthew D.
name: Bluth, Marcel
name: Boucarut, Rene A.
name: Brady, Gregory R.
name: Brooks, Keira J.
name: Brown, Bob
name: Byard, John
name: Carey, Larkin
name: Carrasquilla, Maria
name: Celeste, Sid
name: Chae, Dan
name: Chaney, David
name: Chayer, Pierre
name: Chonis, Taylor
name: Cohen, Lester
name: Cole, Helen J.
name: Comeau, Thomas M.
name: Coon, Matthew
name: Coppock, Eric
name: Coyle, Laura
name: Davis, Rick
name: Dean, Bruce H.
name: Dziak, Kenneth J.
name: Eisenhower, Michael
name: Flagey, Nicolas
name: Franck, Randy
name: Gallagher, Benjamin
name: Gilman, Larry
name: Glassman, Tiffany
name: Golnik, Gary
name: Green, Joseph J.
name: Grieco, John
name: Haase, Shari
name: Hadjimichael, Theodore J.
name: Hagopian, John G.
name: Hahn, Walter G.
name: Hartig, George F.
name: Havey, Keith A.
name: Hayden, William L.
name: Hellekson, Robert
name: Hicks, Brian
name: Holfeltz, Sherie T.
name: Howard, Joseph M.
name: Huguet, Jesse A.
name: Jahne, Brian
name: Johnson, Leslie A.
name: Johnston, John D.
name: Jurling, Alden S.
name: Kegley, Jeffrey R.
name: Kennard, Scott
name: Keski-Kuha, Ritva A.
name: Knight, J. Scott
name: Kulp, Bernard A.
name: Levi, Joshua S.
name: Levine, Marie B.
name: Lightsey, Paul
name: Luetgens, Robert A.
name: Mather, John C.
name: Matthews, Gary W.
name: McKay, Andrew G.
name: Mehalick, Kimberly I.
name: Meléndez, Marcio
name: Messer, Ted
name: Mosier, Gary E.
name: Murphy, Jess
name: Nelan, Edmund P.
name: Niedner, Malcolm B.
name: Noël, Darin M.
name: Ohara, Catherine M.
name: Ohl, Raymond G.
name: Olczak, Eugene
name: Osborne, Shannon B.
name: Park, Sang
name: Patton, Kevin
name: Perrygo, Charles
name: Pueyo, Laurent
name: Quesnel, Lisbeth
name: Ranck, Dale
name: Redding, David C.
name: Regan, Michael W.
name: Reynolds, Paul
name: Rifelli, Rich
name: Rigby, Jane R.
name: Sabatke, Derek
name: Saif, Babak N.
name: Scorse, Thomas R.
name: Seo, Byoung-Joon
name: Shi, Fang
name: Sigrist, Norbert
name: Smith, Koby
name: Smith, J. Scott
name: Smith, Erin C.
name: Sohn, Sangmo Tony
name: Spina, John
name: Stahl, H. Philip
name: Telfer, Randal
name: Terlecki, Todd
name: Texter, Scott C.
name: Van Buren, David
name: Van Campen, Julie M.
name: Vila, Begoña
name: Voyton, Mark F.
name: Waldman, Mark
name: Walker, Chanda B.
name: Weiser, Nick
name: Wells, Conrad
name: West, Garrett
name: Whitman, Tony L.
name: Wick, Eric
name: Wolf, Erin
name: Young, Greg
name: Zielinski, Thomas P.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a large, infrared space telescope that has recently started its science program which will enable breakthroughs in astrophysics and planetary science. Notably, JWST will provide the very first observations of the earliest luminous objects in the Universe and start a new era of exoplanet atmospheric characterization. This transformative science is enabled by a 6.6 m telescope that is passively cooled with a 5-layer sunshield. The primary mirror is comprised of 18 controllable, low areal density hexagonal segments, that were aligned and phased relative to each other in orbit using innovative image-based wavefront sensing and control algorithms. This revolutionary telescope took more than two decades to develop with a widely distributed team across engineering disciplines. We present an overview of the telescope requirements, architecture, development, superb on-orbit performance, and lessons learned. JWST successfully demonstrates a segmented aperture space telescope and establishes a path to building even larger space telescopes.
description: accepted by PASP for JWST Overview Special Issue; 34 pages, 25 figures