JWST/MIRI

The James Webb Space telescope, finally launched on Christmas Day 2021 after more than 10-years delay, has been a tremendeous success thanks to the dilligent work at NASA/ESA/CSA and the instrument consortia. The Mid Infrared Instrument (MIRI) was built jointly by a US and a European consortium.

The MIRI European consortium (MIRI-EC) consists of research institutes in 10 countries, and were responsible for mainly the optical and mechanical hardware, while the US consortium (MIRI-US) provided the detectors.

Sweden provided hardware in form of optical filters and beam splitters, and man power.MIRI is unique among JWST instrument in its coverage in imaging, spectroscopy, and coronography beyond wavelengths of 5 microns.

MIRI has delivered a performace that in almost all respects surpass the requirements, for which the continued work of the consortia should be acknowledeged.While MIRI has been formally handed over to STScI, the role of the MIRI-EC and -UC remains important since they still hold the most detailed expertise of the instrument, and its development history.

This is crucial for characterizing the in-flight performance of MIRI and its time evolution.

The MIRI-EC board has therefore deciced to keep the consortium active at least until 2027.From the Swedish side we are committed to keep our engagement in MIRI-EC and its activities throughout 2027.