Status of the JWST/NIRSpec instrument

The Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) is one of the four instruments on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), scheduled for launch in 2018. NIRSpec has been designed and built by the European Space Agency (ESA) with Airbus Defense and Space Germany as prime contractor. The instrument covers the wavelength range from 0.6 to 5.3 micron and will be able to obtain spectra of more than 100 astronomical objects simultaneously by means of a configurable array of micro-shutters. It also features an integral field unit and a suite of slits for high contrast spectroscopy of individual objects. The extensive ground calibration campaign of NIRSpec was completed in Summer 2013, after which it was delivered to NASA for integration into the Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM). We highlight the major results from the instrument level calibration campaign which demonstrated full compliance with all opto-mechanical performance requirements. In addition, we present the current status of the instrument, describe the ongoing preparations for the Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM) test campaign to begin in June 2014, and briefly discuss plans for the pending exchange of the detector and micro-shutter assemblies following the first ISIM test cycle.