Abstract

The Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) instrument for NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is one of the four science instruments installed into the Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM) on JWST intended to conduct scientific observations over a five year mission lifetime. NIRCam's requirements include operation at 37 kelvins to produce high resolution images in two wave bands encompassing the range from 0.6 microns to 5 microns. In addition NIRCam is used as a metrology instrument during the JWST observatory commissioning on orbit, during the initial and subsequent precision alignments of the observatory's multiple-segment 6.3 meter primary mirror. JWST is scheduled for launch and deployment in 2012. This paper is an overview of the NIRCam instrument with pointers to several NIRCam subsystem papers to be presented in the same conference. This paper will introduce and explain at top level the structural, optical, mechanical and thermal subsystems of NIRCam.

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