The scheduled October 2018 launch of the James Webb Space Telescope is steadily approaching, and the first Call for Proposals will be released in 2017. The Space Telescope Science Institute, following the recommendations of the JWST Advisory Committee, is now defining the parameters for an Early Release Science (ERS) program.

The primary objective of the Early Release Science (ERS) program is to provide community access to a broad suite of JWST science observations as early as possible in Cycle 1. The observing programs will be chosen by peer review to provide representative datasets and address technical challenges related to the major instrumental modes available on JWST. ERS observations are expected to seed initial discovery and to inform Cycle 2 proposals, which will be submitted just months after the start of Cycle 1 based on the current JWST science timeline:

The key elements of the nascent Early Release Science program are currently as follows:

1. JWST ERS programs will be designed and executed by community investigators, and selected by peer-review.
2. ERS will be a director's discretionary program, which will provide a total of ~500 hours of time.
3. ERS programs will be selected to span key JWST observing modes, data analysis challenges, and science areas. JWST offers 14 distinct imaging, coronagraphic, and spectroscopic observing modes from the optical to the mid-infrared (0.6 - 28.3 microns).
4. ERS will be comprised of substantive, science-driven programs, which have the potential to enable community archival research beginning in Cycle 1, and/or to be building blocks with which the community can use to design larger JWST observing programs in the future.
5. ERS observations will have no proprietary period.
6. ERS observations will be among the first observations to execute after commissioning in Cycle 1.
7. ERS teams will be responsible for the delivery of science enabling products to the community in coordination with the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST). The delivery timescale should be sufficiently rapid to support community preparation of Cycle 2 proposals.
8. ERS proposals will be reviewed, selected, and publicized prior to the release of the GO Cycle 1 Call for Proposals. The ERS proposal deadline is currently planned for July 2017:

A slide set presenting the ERS concept can be found here.

We are now soliciting input through a brief survey to gauge community familiarity with and interest in JWST capabilities, and help inform our preparations for the ERS program. The survey will be open from October 10, 2015 through January 15, 2016, and should take 10-15 minutes to complete. It can be found here.

Questions and comments are welcome at jwst_ers at stsci.edu. Interested parties may also contact the following STScI science staff members:

• Janice C. Lee
• I. Neill Reid