JWST @ SXSW

• By Maggie Masetti
• March 8, 2013
• Comments Off on JWST @ SXSW

The big event is here – South by Southwest. It’s a giant music, film, and tech festival that runs for 2 weeks in Austin, TX. And this year, NASA is at SXSW! Right next to the Interactive Festival, is a big NASA tent and… the full-scale model of the James Webb Space Telescope. Inside the tent are demonstrations and speakers talking about JWST, astrophysics, and engineering. There is a huge 30 foot visualization wall provided by Microsoft, there is live skyping from SXSW with the cleanroom at NASA Goddard, there are projects about JWST done by Middle School Students on display. And did I mention the full-scale model?

It’s four stories high and as big as a tennis court – it is truly impressive to behold. Northrop Grumman doesn’t display the model very often, so we are really lucky to have it here. And Austin makes a fine backdrop for it.

Though the weather hasn’t been cooperating, the rain appears to be lifting. Rain or shine, we will be here at the NASA Experience Tent, near the Long Center talking about astronomy & JWST from now until Sunday night, March 10. Everything here is free or open to the public, so if you’re in the Austin area, come by!

Here are some photos to give you a taste of SXSW so far.

NASA produced this really gorgeous time-lapse video of the full-scale model being constructed in front of the Austin skyline:

The full-scale model lit up at night:

Credit: Mike McClare

Credit: Maggie Masetti

Our own guest blogger Dr. Amber Straughn giving an interview:

Credit: Mike McClare

We had some rain, but we persevered – for science!

Credit: Maggie Masetti

Credit: Maggie Masetti

Credit: Maggie Masetti

Credit: Maggie Masetti

Other activities in the NASA Experience Tent – you can learn about infrared light:

Credit: Maggie Masetti

See presentations and tour WorldWide Telescope on the 30 foot Viz Wall:

Credit: Maggie Masetti

Learn about JWST’s mirrors:

Credit: Maggie Masetti

These items are made from the same materials as JWST’s backplane and ISIM structure!

Credit: Maggie Masetti

This model of the backplane structure of the James Webb Space Telescope (think of it as a spine that holds the mirrors in place) is actually itself sitting on a mirror. The reflection makes the partial model look whole.

Credit: Maggie Masetti

Hutto Middle School students display their James Webb Space Telescope projects:

Credit: Maggie Masetti

We’ve also had Skype chats with people in the cleanrooms of both NASA Goddard and NASA Johnson. These pictures show both sides of the conversation between SXSW participants and Delaney Burkart, who was in NASA Goddard’s cleanroom. Delaney is a lead Intergration and test engineer at Goddard. She directs the activities in the clean room and Webb assembly tasks and is one of 3 I&T engineers.

Credit: Chris Gunn

Credit: Nasreen Alkhateeb

And that’s just a taste of what is going on this weekend! I hope to have another update for you later in the weekend!