Petition & Video Competition Close: What's Next?

Attention SaveWebbers and Science Warriors:

There are two items of note.

• The change.org "DO NOT cancel funding for the James Webb Space Telescope" online petition is officially closed.
• The whyJWST? Video Competition is now closed.

However, all is not over. Our most important effort has yet to come. Read below for details:

The Petition was open from July 10, 2011 through to October 9, 2011— a total of nearly 3 months. We received an amazing 5,039 signatures! We thank you heartily for the effort, enthusiasm, and seriousness with which you, our most important supporter, helped spread the word and engage your publicly elected officials about the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Without you, this entire endeavor would have been impossible. This is especially true for the effort to save JWST because 99.9% of this has been conducted through social media and the Internet. If your signature is on this petition; if you tweeted about the effort to save JWST or posted on Facebook or talked to your friends and family, or contacted your democratically elected representatives, then you have sent a clear message to your contemporaries about the importance of JWST and the importance of science and technology in our society. You have also sent a message to future generations, saying "even now, during a period of dismal economic woes and conflicting priorities, there are those among us with vision and a long-term awareness of what is important; what will advance our species to one day travel to the stars."

So what's our next move with the petition? We will be packaging the signatures, printing them out, and sending them to key members of the US House of Representatives Subcommittee on Commerce Justice and Science starting today. We will keep you updated on this progress.

The Video Competition is also now closed. We have accepted the final submissions and they are spectacular! Now, we will need your help on this one...we will be setting up a public vote to determine the winning submission. We still have a prize to give away (1 hour of access to the 2-meter Faulkes Telescope in Hawai'i or Australia) and it will be up to you, our saveJWST supporters, to determine the winner. Stay tuned to this blog and to our Facebook page for the announcement of the public vote; It will be happening soon (read: over the next 5 hours).

What's next? So, now that this Video Competition and the Petition are closed, are we done here? Oh no we are not! Our most important effort is coming up. The House and the Senate are now deliberating the final numbers for the FY2012 bill, which includes funding for the JWST. Now is the most important time to act. Have no fear. We have a plan. And we will be announcing this plan on Wednesday October 12, 2011. So, stay tuned and get ready. This Telescope must fly!

@neoteotihuacan