The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a space observatory with four
science instruments operating from the visible to the mid-infrared
projected to launch in 2018. It is designed to address four scientific
themes (First Light and Reionization, The Assembly of Galaxies, The
Birth of Stars and Protoplanetary Systems, and Planetary Systems and the
Origin of Life), but its capabilities will enable an even broader
spectrum of research. JWST is a international collaboration between
NASA, ESA and CSA and will be operated by the JWST Science and
Operations Center at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore,
USA.
Following the scheme of HST operations, instrument scientists involved
in support JWST science operations will carry out several different
tasks. The complexity and versatility of the 4 on-board instruments
demand a high degree of coordination across several activities, such as
the on-sky calibration observations or the software development for data
quality analysis, or data reduction. Moreover, using their expertise on
the instruments' capabilities, they will play a key role in helping JWST
users design ambitious observing strategies and be successful in their
scientific experiments. We will review the overall science operation
plan for JWST from a Instrument Scientist perspective and will describe
the role of ESA during the JWST science operation phase.