Overview of the MIRI. The instrument is attached to the JWST Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM) by the triangular structure at the left. Click on a subsystem to learn more about it.

MIRI -- The Mid Infrared Instrument for the James Webb Space Telescope

The MIRI will provide the JWST with imaging and spectroscopy at wavelengths from 5 through 27 microns. It is an international collaboration between NASA and ESA combining the talents of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), a consortium of European partners, and an international science team. The MIRI is designed around performance requirements and goals that were initiated by a predecessor to the MIRI science team. The ESA/consortium-provided optical bench is divided into instrument modules as shown in the illustration to the right. NASA/JPL will supply the cryostat to cool the focal planes and optics and, in collaboration with Ames Research Center, is leading development of the focal planes.

In addition to the huge discovery potential due to the hundred times advance in sensitivity with the MIRI over any previous telescope/instrument combinations, the instrument plays key roles in the defining JWST science program:

1.) Discovery of the 'first light'

2.) Assembly of galaxies: history of star formation, growth of black holes, preduction of heavy elements

3.) How stars and planetary systems form

4.) Evolution of planetary systems and conditions for life

Check here for a more detailed description of the science, or here for one of the instrument (both in pdf).

Science Team Area (password protected):

web page by G. Rieke