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$1,549,311,664

National Aeronautics and Space Administration·National Aeronautics and Space Administration

to ASSOCIATION OF UNIVERSITIES FOR RESEARCH IN ASTRONOMY, INC.

aerospaceactiveONGOING · MOD OF 2003 CONTRACT
WORK BEGAN2003-10-01·LATEST ACTION2026-06-11·SOURCEUSASPENDING·SOURCE IDCONT_AWD_NAS503127_8000_-NONE-_-NONE-
Award description

THE PRIMARY ACTIVITIES COVERED BY THIS EFFORT SPAN THE MAJOR PHASES OF THE MISSION BEGINNING WITH FORMULATION THROUGH DEVELOPMENT AND TESTING, AND ENDING ONE YEAR AFTER LAUNCH WITH THE INITIATION OF THE JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE (JWST) SCIENCE PROGRAM. THESE MAJOR ACTIVITIES ARE SEPARATED INTO THE BASELINE PROGRAM AND SPECIAL STUDIES. THE BASELINE PROGRAM INCLUDES: A. MISSION REQUIREMENTS ANALYSIS AND OBSERVATORY/MISSION DESIGN SUPPORT INCLUDING: TRADESTUDY GENERATION, SCIENCE AND OPERATIONS IMPACT ANALYSIS, SCIENCE SYSTEMS ENGINEERING SUPPORT, AND DESIGN REFERENCE MISSION ANALYSIS. B. GROUND SEGMENT DEVELOPMENT, TESTING, MAINTENANCE AND OPERATIONS INCLUDING: OPERATIONS SUPPORT OF SI, FGS, ISIM, AND OBSERVATORY INTEGRATION AND TEST (I&T), MISSION SIMULATIONS, AND DOCUMENTATION MAINTENANCE, AS WELL AS LOW COST OPERATIONS CONCEPTS. C. SCIENCE PROGRAM IMPLEMENTATION INCLUDING: MISSION PLANNING SUPPORT, SCIENCE PROGRAM DEFINITION SUPPORT, PROPOSAL MANAGEMENT AND USER GRANT ADMINISTRATION, OBSERVER ASSISTANCE, SCIENCE COMMUNITY OUTREACH, AND STAFF RESEARCH. D. COMMISSIONING PERIOD AND ROUTINE SCIENCE OPERATIONS INCLUDING: PROPOSAL GENERATION, OBSERVATION PLANNING AND SCHEDULING, OBSERVING AND USER SUPPORT, DATA PROCESSING AND PRODUCT GENERATION, ARCHIVAL AND DATA DISTRIBUTION SERVICES, CALIBRATION ASSISTANCE AND DATA ANALYSIS, AND ENGINEERING OPERATIONS SUPPORT. E. FLIGHT OPERATIONS INCLUDING: SUBSYSTEM (INCLUDING INSTRUMENTS) HEALTH AND SAFETY MONITORING, COMMAND GENERATION AND UPLOAD, SCHEDULE EXECUTION ASSURANCE, TRENDING, AND ANOMALY INVESTIGATION. F. SUPPORT AND EXECUTION OF THE ON-ORBIT COMMISSIONING PROGRAM. G. GENERATION OF PERFORMANCE, SCIENCE RETURN, AND OTHER PERTINENT INFORMATIONAL REPORTS TO THE JWST PROJECT. H. ASTRONOMICAL COMMUNITY AND GENERAL PUBLIC/EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH. EXAMPLES OF SPECIAL PROJECT ACTIVITIES MAY INCLUDE: A. FOLLOW-ON MISSION STUDIES. B. ENGINEERING NECESSARY TO RESPOND TO NEW JWST PROJECT TASKS.

Verbatim from USAspending.gov. Capitalization, abbreviations, and codes are unchanged.

The Buildout's read

What the model surfaced from this award

Confidence: high
In plain English

Latest obligation on the 2003 James Webb Space Telescope contract for ongoing mission operations, science support, and commissioning through mid-2027.

Sub-sectors
jwst-operationsspace-telescope-sciencemission-operations
Why this matters

JWST is the successor to Hubble and the most expensive space science project ever built; sustained operations funding ensures continued scientific return on a $10+ billion investment.

Supply-chain signal

Supports a network of aerospace contractors, instrument teams, and ground-segment vendors providing continuous operations and data-processing infrastructure for the mission.

U.S.–China competition angle

JWST represents U.S. leadership in space-based astronomy and deep-space science; sustained funding maintains technological edge in space exploration and astrophysics.

Generated by award_classification v2.1.0 via claude-haiku-4-5-20251001 on 2026-05-17. Cost: $0.003526.

Period of performance
Start
2003-10-01
End
2027-06-25
Status
activein 360 days
Other awards from this recipient
Sources

The Buildout does not edit federal records. Any inaccuracy reflects the upstream source; it will update here when corrected there.

$1.5B National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The Buildout — The Buildout