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. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

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 ...

. 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 designed to conduct infrared astronomy. As the largest telescope in space, it is equipped with high-resolution and high-sensitivity instruments, allowing it to view objects too old, Lis ...

– 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. She is now working on the

Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (shortened as the Roman Space Telescope, Roman, or RST) is a NASA infrared space telescope in development and scheduled to launch to a Sun–Earth L2 orbit by May 2027. It is named after former NASA Chie ...

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, James Keeler, said, astrophysics "seeks to ascertain the ...

at the

University of Santiago de Compostela The University of Santiago de Compostela - USC (, ) is a public university located in the city of Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain. A second campus is located in Lugo, Galicia. It is one of the world's oldest universities in continuous o ...

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 (JBCA) 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. ...

at the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

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; ) is the national space agency of Canada, established in 1990 by the ''Canadian Space Agency Act''. The President of the Canadian Space Agency, president is Lisa Campbell (civil servant), Lisa Campbell, who took ...

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

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

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 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. In 2022 she was accredited by their Majesties the King and Queen of Spain as Spanish Honorary Ambassador of the Spain Brand (), an initiative of the Forum of Renowned Spanish Brands (FMRE), in the category of Science and Innovation. In 2023, she received the

NASA Exceptional Public Service Medal NASA's Exceptional Public Service Medal is a United States government award awarded to any non-Government individual or to an individual who was not a Government employee during the period in which the service was performed for sustained performa ...

“for years of exceptional public service to develop and commission JWST’s Fine Guidance Sensor providing exceptional pointing for this world class Observatory”. In 2023 she was also included in the Forbes list of 100 most influential women in Spain.

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 physicists University of Santiago de Compostela alumni Women astrophysicists Women systems engineers Systems engineers 21st-century Spanish women engineers