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Guide to the Michael W. Werner Spitzer Space Telescope Development Project Files
ARC23.15
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Title: Michael W. Werner Spitzer Space Telescope Development Project Files
Date (inclusive): 1963-1990
Collection Number: ARC23.15
Creator:
Werner, Michael W.
Extent:
Number of containers: 4
Volume: 1.40 cubic feet
Volume: 1.40 cubic feet
Repository:
NASA Ames Research Center Archives
Moffett Field, California 94035
Abstract: This collection of Michael W. Werner's project files primarily relates to the project management and development of the Spitzer
Space Telescope (formerly the Shuttle Infrared Telescope Facility and Space Infrared Telescope Facility) at Ames Research
Center, where he was Project Scientist and Science Working Group Chairman for the telescope. The collection includes project
plans, reviews, reports, requirements, presentations, correspondence, notes, assessments, design and mission studies, science
objectives, and other technical documentation.
Language:
English
Collection is open for research. Access to some materials is restricted.
Copyright does not apply to United States government records. For non-government
material, researchers must contact the original creator.
NASA Ames Research Center Archives. Moffett Field, California. ARC23.15, Michael W. Werner Spitzer Space Telescope Development
Project Files, [Container number]: [Folder number]. [Identification of item]. [Date, if available].
NASA ARC Archives. ARC23.15, [Container number]: [Folder number]. [Identification of item]. [Date, if available].
The following publications were separated from this collection. (The SIRTF and ABE documents are available in the ARC Archives
Reference Collection, AFS1070.8A.).
- Ames Research Center. SIRTF Free Flyer Phase A System Concept Description Document No. PD-1006. Moffett Field, CA: NASA Ames Research Center, May 3, 1984.
- Ames Research Center and Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp. The Astrobiology Explorer (ABE) MIDEX Mission: Understanding Organic Molecules in Space. October 30, 2001.
- senhardt, Peter. The SIRTF Concept and its Realization. Moffett Field, CA: NASA Ames Research Center, November 17, 1988.
- Maloney, Philip R., Hollenbach, David H., and Townes, Charles H. Heating of H II Regions with Application to the Galactic Center. undated. Note on cover: "To appear in the Astrophysical Journal."
- Walker, Russell G. and Cohen, Martin. An Atlas of Selected Calibrated Stellar Spectra. NASA Contractor report 177604, September 1992.
AFS1070.8A: Archives Reference Collection (NASA Ames Research Center Archives)
PP05.04: Larry A. Manning Papers, 1967-1988 (NASA Ames Research Center Archives)
PP08.18: Lawrence J. Caroff Notebooks, 1986-2001 (NASA Ames Research Center Archives)
JPL609, The Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF)/Spitzer Space Telescope Project Collection, 1977-2022 (NASA Jet Propulsion
Laboratory Archives)
Transferred by the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Archives on June 22, 2023 (Acc. 2023-015).
Administrative and Biographical History
Administrative History
The Spitzer Space Telescope originated as a Space Shuttle payload concept following substantial development efforts at Ames
Research Center starting in 1971, and later evolved into a free flyer. While under development, early versions of the telescope
were called the Shuttle Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF) and Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF), among others. In
the fall of 1989, NASA transferred the management of SIRTF from Ames to the California Institute of Technology's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory (JPL). In late August 2003, the telescope was launched from Cape Canaveral as the final space-based astronomical
telescope of NASA's Great Observatories Program.
Biographical Note
Michael W. Werner is a JPL-based American scientist who is internationally recognized for his contributions to astronomy.
He has been Project Scientist and Science Working Group Chairman for the Spitzer Space Telescope from 1984 to the present.
Prior to his post at JPL, Werner worked in the Astrophysics Experiments Branch at Ames Research Center. In 1984, he became
SIRTF Project Scientist at Ames and chair of the Science Working Group for the telescope. When the SIRTF project moved from
Ames to JPL in the fall of 1989, Werner moved with it in order to continue his work.
Werner earned a BA in Physics from Haverford College in 1963 and a PhD in Astronomy from Cornell University in 1968. He has
published over 275 refereed journal articles and co-wrote the book "More Things in the Heavens: How Infrared Astronomy is
Expanding our View of the Universe." Some of the honors bestowed on him include Outstanding Leadership and Distinguished Public
Service medals from NASA, the Carl Sagan Memorial Award from the American Astronautical Society, the Space Sciences medal
from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), Pickering Lecturer of the AIAA, and George Darwin Lecturer
of the Royal Astronomical Society.
For a personal, historical account of the development of this telescope, see Werner's 2006 article entitled
A Short and Personal History of the Spitzer Space Telescope.
Werner, Michael W.
Michael Werner - August 2022 (Curriculum Vitae). 2022. Accessed August 11, 2023, from https://science.jpl.nasa.gov/documents/832/Werner_cv202022mw.pdf
Werner, Michael W.
A Short and Personal History of the Spitzer Space Telescope. 2006. Astron. Soc. Pac. Conf. Ser. 357, 7-18. Accessed August 11, 2023, from https://authors.library.caltech.edu/24255/1/Werner2006p9116Spitzer_Space_Telescope_New_Views_Of_The_Cosmos.pdf
The following terms may be used to index this collection.
Ames Research Center
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (U.S.)
Werner, Michael W.
Infrared astronomy
Infrared telescopes
Space Infrared Telescope Facility (U.S.)
Spitzer Space Telescope (Spacecraft)
The bulk of Michael W. Werner's project files document management and development efforts for the Spitzer Space Telescope
(formerly the Shuttle Infrared Telescope Facility and Space Infrared Telescope Facility) at Ames Research Center from 1978
through 1989, as it evolved from a Space Shuttle payload to a free flyer. The collection presents a partial view into the
center's contributions to this project.
Types of materials in the collection include science working group and program management documents in the form of project
plans, reviews, reports, requirements, presentations, correspondence, notes, assessments, design and mission studies, science
objectives, and other technical documentation.
Arrangement of the Michael W. Werner Spitzer Space Telescope Development Project Files
This collection is arranged by subject, then chronologically and alphabetically by file titles.