The JWST near-infrared spectrograph NIRSpec: status Pierre Ferruit a , Giorgio Bagnasco a , Reiner Barho b , Stephan Birkmann a , Torsten Böker a , Guido de Marchi a , Bernhard Dorner c,d,e , Ralf Ehrenwinkler b , Massimo Falcolini a , Giovanna Giardino a , Xavier Gnata b , Karl Honnen b , Peter Jakobsen f , Peter Jensen a , Manfred Kolm b , Hans-Ulrich Maier b , Ralf Maurer b , Markus Melf b , Peter Mosner b , Peter Rumler a , Jean-Christophe Salvignol a , Marco Sirianni a , Paolo Strada a , Maurice te Plate a , Thomas Wettemann b a European Space Agency / ESTEC, Keplerlaan 1, PO Box 299, 2200 AG, Noordwijk, The Netherlands; b Astrium GmbH - Ottobrunn, 82024 Taufkirchen Germany; c Université de Lyon, Lyon, F-69003, France; d Université Lyon 1, Observatoire de Lyon, 9 Avenue Charles André, Saint-Genis Laval, F-69230, France; e CNRS, UMR 5574, Centre de Recherche Astrophysique de Lyon, France; f DARK Cosmology Centre, University of Copenhagen, Juliane Maries Vej 30, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark. ABSTRACT The Near-Infrared Spectrograph NIRSpec is one of the four instruments of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). NIRSpec will cover the 0.6-5.0 micron range and will be capable of obtaining spectra of more than 100 objects simultaneously in its multi-object spectroscopy (MOS) mode. It also features a set of slits and an aperture for high contrast spectroscopy of individual sources, as well as an integral-field unit (IFU) for 3D spectroscopy. We will first show how these capabilities are linked to the four main JWST scientific themes. We will then give an overview of the NIRpec modes and spectral configurations with an emphasis on the layout of the field of view and of the spectra. Last, we will provide an update on the status of the instrument. Keywords: JWST, NIRSpec, spectroscopy, infrared 1. INTRODUCTION The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) 1,2 , often presented as the successor of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), will be one of the “great observatories” of the next decade. It is a collaborative project between the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). JWST is due to be launched in 2018 from the French Guiana space center and will be placed in its orbit around the anti-Sun Earth- Sun Lagrangian point (L2) by an Ariane 5 launcher provided by ESA. Its payload contains four scientific instruments: a near-infrared camera (NIRCam) 3 , a combined mid-infrared camera/spectrograph (MIRI) 4 , a near-infrared imager and slit-less spectrograph (NIRISS) 5 and a near-infrared spectrograph (NIRSpec) 6 . A Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS) 5 completes this instrument suite. Among these 4 instruments, the NIRSpec spectrograph will cover the full 0.6-5.0 micron range and will be capable of obtaining spectra of more than 100 objects simultaneously in its multi-object spectroscopy (MOS) mode. It also features a set of slits and apertures for high contrast spectroscopy of individual sources, as well as an integral-field unit (IFU) for 3D spectroscopy. NIRSpec is manufactured in Europe for ESA by an industrial consortium led by Astrium GmbH. Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2012: Optical, Infrared, and Millimeter Wave, edited by Mark C. Clampin, Giovanni G. Fazio, Howard A. MacEwen, Jacobus M. Oschmann, Jr., Proc. of SPIE Vol. 8442, 84422O © 2012 SPIE · CCC code: 0277-786/12/$18 · doi: 10.1117/12.925810 Proc. of SPIE Vol. 8442 84422O-1 Downloaded From: http://proceedings.spiedigitallibrary.org/ on 11/04/2015 Terms of Use: http://spiedigitallibrary.org/ss/TermsOfUse.aspx