María Begoña Vila Costas (born 1963) is a Spanish astrophysicist specializing in the study of

spiral galaxies Spiral galaxies form a class of galaxy originally described by Edwin Hubble in his 1936 work ''The Realm of the Nebulae''Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

and works as a systems engineer at NASA's

Goddard Space Flight Center The Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) is a major NASA space research laboratory located approximately northeast of Washington, D.C. in Greenbelt, Maryland, United States. Established on May 1, 1959 as NASA's first space flight center, GSFC empl ...

. She is the lead engineer for the

Fine Guidance Sensor and Near Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph Fine Guidance Sensor and Near Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (FGS-NIRISS) is an instrument on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) that combines a Fine Guidance Sensor and a science instrument, a near-infrared imager and a spectrogra ...

(FGS-NIRISS) on the

James Webb Space Telescope The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a space telescope which conducts infrared astronomy. As the largest optical telescope in space, its high resolution and sensitivity allow it to view objects too old, distant, or faint for the Hubble Spa ...

– the Hubble's successor – in addition to being in charge of the final cold test of the group of instruments before their integration with the telescope.

Career

Begoña Vila studied

Astrophysics Astrophysics is a science that employs the methods and principles of physics and chemistry in the study of astronomical objects and phenomena. As one of the founders of the discipline said, Astrophysics "seeks to ascertain the nature of the h ...

at the

University of Santiago de Compostela , established = , type = Public , budget = €228 million (2011) , rector = Prof. Dr. Antonio López Díaz , city = Santiago de Compostela , state = Galicia , country = Spain , undergrad = 23,835 , postgrad = 1,716 , doctoral = 2,697 ...

and the from 1981 to 1986. She received her doctorate in Astrophysics at the

Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics The Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Manchester, is among the largest astrophysics groups in the UK. It includes the Jodrell Bank Observatory, the MERLIN/VLBI National Facility, and the Jodrell Bank Visitor Centre. The ...

at the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

in 1989. Beginning in 2006 she worked on the design and construction of the

(FGS-NIRISS) that will be carried by the

at a Canadian company under the direction of the

Canadian Space Agency The Canadian Space Agency (CSA; french: Agence spatiale canadienne, ASC) is the national space agency of Canada, established in 1990 by the ''Canadian Space Agency Act''. The president is Lisa Campbell, who took the position on September 3, 2020 ...

. When it was delivered in 2012 and the first cold test was done,

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

decided to hire her through an external company as a systems engineer for the instrument. JWST FGS ETU picture

Since 2013 she has been "FGS lead systems engineer", in charge of tests of the sensor, its operations in orbit, limitations, software components, etc. She also coordinates all the scientific instruments grouped in the

Integrated Science Instrument Module Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM) is a component of the James Webb Space Telescope, a large international infrared space telescope launched on . ISIM is the heart of the JWST, and holds the main science payload which includes four scienc ...

(ISIM) for the cold tests. She is a member of Españoles Científicos en USA (ECUSA-DC), an organization that encompasses the Spanish scientific community in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. In 2016, she was honored by NASA with the

Exceptional Public Achievement Medal The Exceptional Public Achievement Medal is an award of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) . It is awarded to any non-Government individual or to any individual who was not a Government employee during the period in which t ...

for her "years of outstanding leadership and achievement", as well as the design and development of the FGS-NIRISS. In 2017 she won the for her scientific work.

References

External links

Begoña Vila
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vila, Begona 1963 births 21st-century Spanish scientists Alumni of the University of Manchester Living people People from Vigo Spanish astrophysicists Spanish women engineers Spanish women physicists University of Santiago de Compostela alumni Women astrophysicists Women systems engineers 21st-century women engineers