John Thatcher – The James Webb Space Telescope At Work

The talk will provide a basic understanding of JWST and why it looks the way it does along with a look at some of the results obtained during the first year of science observations.

John retired in May 2013 after over 30 years working in the space industry, mainly involved in spacecraft engineering and project management. He began his career as an aerothermodynamicist at Rolls-Royce Aero Engines in Derby.  He also worked briefly in the nuclear power industry before joining what was then British Aerospace at Stevenage working on communication satellites. 

During his career ‘in space’ he has been fortunate to have worked on most aspects of spacecraft engineering covering design, development, manufacture, integration, test, launch and operations of communication and scientific missions, including the industrial management of the Beagle 2 Mars lander project in its early years. For the last decade at work John was the European Consortium Project Manager for the Mid-Infrared Instrument on the James Webb Space Telescope managing it through to delivery to NASA in 2012 and still in contact with the team operating the instrument.