Author Topic: NASA - James Webb Space Telescope - Discussion and Updates  (Read 518409 times)

Offline jacqmans

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Re: NASA - James Webb Space Telescope - updates
« Reply #20 on: 09/15/2009 06:56 pm »
RELEASE NO. 09-64

James Webb Space Telescope Begins to Take Shape at Goddard

GREENBELT, Md. - NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is starting to come together. A major component of the telescope, the Integrated Science Instrument Module structure, recently arrived at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. for testing in the Spacecraft Systems Development and Integration Facility.

The Integrated Science Instrument Module, or ISIM, is an important component of the Webb telescope. The ISIM includes the structure, four scientific instruments or cameras, electronics, harnesses, and other components.

The ISIM structure is the "backbone" of the ISIM. It is similar to the chassis of a car.  Just as a car chassis provides support for the engine and holds other components, the ISIM Structure supports and holds the four Webb telescope science instruments : the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), the Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) and the Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS). Each of these instruments were created and assembled by different program partners around the world.

When fully assembled, the ISIM will be the size of a small room with the structure acting as a skeleton supporting all of the instruments. Ray Lundquist, ISIM Systems Engineer, at NASA Goddard, commented that "The ISIM structure is truly a one-of-a-kind item. There is no second ISIM being made."

Before arriving at Goddard, the main ISIM structure – a state of the art, cryogenic-compatible, optical structure was designed by a team of engineers at Goddard, and assembled by Alliant Techsystems (ATK) at its Magna, Utah facility. That's the same facility where the Webb Telescope's Backplane is also being assembled.

Now that the structure has arrived at Goddard, it will undergo rigorous qualification testing to demonstrate its ability to survive the launch and extreme cold of space, and to precisely hold the science instruments in the correct position with respect to the telescope. Once the ISIM structure passes its qualification testing, the process of integrating into it all of the other ISIM Subsystems, including the Science Instruments, will begin.

Each of the four instruments that will be housed in the ISIM is critical to the Webb telescope's mission. The MIRI instrument will provide information on the formation and evolution of galaxies, the physical processes of star and planet formation, and the sources of life-supporting elements in other solar systems. The NIRCam will detect the first galaxies to form in the early universe, map the morphology and colors of galaxies; detect distant supernovae; map dark matter and study stellar populations in nearby galaxies. NIRSpec's microshutter cells can be opened or closed to view or block a portion of the sky which allows the instrument to do spectroscopy on many objects simultaneously, measuring the distances to galaxies and determining their chemical content. The FGS is a broadband guide camera used for both "guide star" acquisition and fine pointing. The FGS also includes the scientific capability of taking images at individual wavelengths of infrared light to study chemic!
 al elements in stars and galaxies.

In addition to designing the ISIM structure, NASA Goddard provides other infrastructure subsystems critical for the operation of the instruments, including the ISIM Thermal Control Subsystem; ISIM Control and Data Handling Subsystem; ISIM Remote Services Unit; ISIM Flight Software; ISIM Electronics Compartment, and ISIM Harness Assemblies.

The ISIM itself is very complicated and is broken into three distinct areas

The first area involves the cryogenic instrument module. This is a critical area, because it keeps the instrument cool. Otherwise, the Webb telescope's heat would interfere with the science instruments’ infrared cameras. So, the module keeps components as cold as -389 degrees Fahrenheit (39 Kelvin). The MIRI instrument is further cooled by a cryocooler refrigerator to -447 degrees Fahrenheit (7 Kelvin).

The second area is the ISIM Electronics Compartment, which provides the mounting surfaces and a thermally-controlled environment for the instrument control electronics.

The third area is the ISIM Command and Data Handling subsystem, which includes ISIM flight Software, and the MIRI cryocooler compressor and control electronics.

NASA Goddard will be assembling and testing the ISIM and its components over the next several years. The integrated ISIM will then be mounted onto the main Webb telescope.

The James Webb Space Telescope is the next-generation premier space observatory, exploring deep space phenomena from distant galaxies to nearby planets and stars. The Webb Telescope will give scientists clues about the formation of the universe and the evolution of our own solar system, from the first light after the Big Bang to the formation of star systems capable of supporting life on planets like Earth. It is expected to launch in 2014. The telescope is a joint project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.

For related images to this story, please visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/universe/features/webb_shape.html

For more information about each of the instruments on the ISIM, visit:

http://www.jwst.nasa.gov/instruments.html

For more information about the Webb Telescope, visit:

http://www.jwst.nasa.gov/
Jacques :-)

Offline Ronsmytheiii

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Re: NASA - James Webb Space Telescope - updates
« Reply #21 on: 02/22/2010 04:24 pm »
Webcam of JWST ISIM Structure being tested:

http://www.jwst.nasa.gov/webcam.html

Offline jacqmans

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Re: NASA - James Webb Space Telescope - updates
« Reply #22 on: 04/29/2010 08:24 am »
RELEASE: 10-099

NASA'S WEBB TELESCOPE PASSES KEY MISSION DESIGN REVIEW MILESTONE

WASHINGTON -- NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has passed its most
significant mission milestone to date, the Mission Critical Design
Review, or MCDR. This signifies the integrated observatory will meet
all science and engineering requirements for its mission.

"I'm delighted by this news and proud of the Webb program's great
technical achievements," said Eric Smith, Webb telescope program
scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "The independent team
conducting the review confirmed the designs, hardware and test plans
for Webb will deliver the fantastic capabilities always envisioned
for NASA's next major space observatory. The scientific successor to
Hubble is making great progress."

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, in Greenbelt, Md., manages the
mission. Northrop Grumman, Redondo Beach, Calif., is leading the
design and development effort.

"This program landmark is the capstone of seven years of intense,
focused effort on the part of NASA, Northrop Grumman and our program
team members," said David DiCarlo, sector vice president and general
manager of Northrop Grumman Space Systems. "We have always had high
confidence that our observatory design would meet the goals of this
pioneering science mission. This achievement testifies to that, as
well as to our close working partnership with NASA."

The MCDR encompassed all previous design reviews including the
Integrated Science Instrument Module review in March 2009; the
Optical Telescope Element review completed in October 2009; and the
Sunshield review completed in January 2010. The project schedule will
undergo a review during the next few months. The spacecraft design,
which passed a preliminary review in 2009, will continue toward final
approval next year.

The review also brought together multiple modeling and analysis tools.
Because the observatory is too large for validation by actual
testing, complex models of how it will behave during launch and in
space environments are being integrated. The models are compared with
prior test and review results from the observatory's components.

Although the MCDR approved the telescope design and gave the official
go-ahead for manufacturing, hardware development on the mirror
segments has been in progress for several years. Eighteen primary
mirror segments are in the process of being polished and tested by
Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colo. Manufacturing
on the backplane, the structure that supports the mirror segments, is
well underway at Alliant Techsystems, or ATK, in Magna, Utah. This
month, ITT Corp. in Rochester, N.Y., demonstrated robotic mirror
installation equipment designed to position segments on the
backplane. The segments' position will be fine-tuned to tolerances of
a fraction of the width of a human hair. The telescope's sunshield
moved into its fabrication and testing phase earlier this year.

The three major elements of Webb - the Integrated Science Instrument
Module, Optical Telescope Element and the spacecraft itself - will
proceed through hardware production, assembly and testing prior to
delivery for observatory integration and testing scheduled to begin
in 2012.

The Webb is the premier next-generation space observatory for
exploring deep space phenomena from distant galaxies to nearby
planets and stars. The telescope will provide clues about the
formation of the universe and the evolution of our own solar system,
from the first light after the Big Bang to the formation of star
systems capable of supporting life on planets like Earth. The
telescope is a joint project of NASA, the European Space Agency and
the Canadian Space Agency.

For more information about the Webb telescope, visit:



http://www.jwst.nasa.gov


-end-
Jacques :-)

Offline Space Pete

Re: NASA - James Webb Space Telescope - updates
« Reply #23 on: 07/27/2010 07:52 pm »
RELEASE: 10-094

James Webb Space Telescope Completes Cryogenic Mirror Test
 
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Recently, six James Webb Space Telescope beryllium mirror segments completed a series of cryogenic tests at the X-ray & Cryogenic Facility at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

During testing, the mirrors were subjected to extreme temperatures dipping to -415 degrees Fahrenheit, permitting NASA contractor engineers to measure in extreme detail how the shape of the mirror changes as it cools.

With those measurements, the mirrors will be shipped to Tinsley Corp. in Redmond, Calif., for final surface polishing at room temperature. Using those "surface error" measurements, each mirror will then be polished in the opposite of the surface error values observed, so when the mirror goes through the next round of cryogenic testing, at Marshall, it should "distort" into a perfect shape.

The facility at Marshall is the world’s largest X-ray telescope test facility and a unique site for cryogenic, clean-room optical testing.

The next set of mirrors are due to arrive at NASA Marshall in August.

The Webb telescope has a total of 18 mirrors. Each of the 18 mirror segments will be cryogenically tested twice in the Marshall Center's X-ray & Cryogenic Facility to ensure that the mirror will maintain its shape in a space environment -- once with bare polished beryllium and then again after a thin coating of gold is applied.

The cryogenic test gauges how each mirror changes temperature and shape over a range of operational temperatures in space. This helps predict how well the telescope will image infrared sources.

The mirrors are designed to stay cold to allow scientists to observe the infrared light they reflect using a telescope and instruments optimized to detect this light. Warm objects give off infrared light, or heat. If the Webb telescope mirror is too warm, the faint infrared light from distant galaxies may be lost in the infrared glow of the mirror itself. Thus, the Webb telescope's mirrors need to operate in a deep cold or cryogenic state, at around -379 degree Fahrenheit.

Northrop Grumman is the prime contractor for the Webb telescope, leading a design and development team under contract to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

The James Webb Space Telescope is NASA's next-generation premier space observatory, exploring deep space phenomena from the formation of distant galaxies to the behavior and interrelationships of nearby planets and stars. The Webb telescope will give scientists clues about the formation of the universe and the evolution of our own solar system, from the first light after the Big Bang to the formation of star systems capable of supporting life on planets like Earth.

For more information about the James Webb Space Telescope, visit:

www.jwst.nasa.gov


www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/news/news/releases/2010/10-094.html

Photos: www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/multimedia/photos/2010/photos10-094.html
« Last Edit: 07/27/2010 07:54 pm by Space Pete »
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Offline marsavian

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Re: NASA - James Webb Space Telescope - updates
« Reply #24 on: 08/08/2010 10:33 am »
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/space/os-webb-telescope-problems-20100809,0,6212334,full.story


Getting those pieces to work has been difficult, however, and a 2006 report by the Government Accountability Office identified several potential problems. The telescope must be compressed to fit aboard the European Ariane 5 rocket that will launch it, so a key concern was whether the Webb can safely unfold its origamilike mirror and shield once it reaches space.

"If program officials follow the current plan, the maturity of key technologies may not be adequately tested prior to program start," noted the report. "In addition, it appears the program will not have sufficient funding resources to ensure the program's success."

Since then, NASA officials said they have addressed — if not necessarily solved — these problems.

Geoff Yoder, NASA's deputy astrophysics director, said the Webb underwent a major design review this spring and that the appraisal found no "showstoppers" that could kill the project, including difficulties with the shield and mirror.

"That doesn't mean everything is completely done," he said. But he said it's a necessary step to ensure that the Webb works once it gets into space because its distance from Earth means there's no way astronauts could fix it.

Offline Space Pete

Re: NASA - James Webb Space Telescope - updates
« Reply #25 on: 08/30/2010 03:41 pm »
James Webb Space Telescope's First Primary Mirror Segment Undergoes Final Coating, Completes Manufacturing Milestone.

A primary mirror segment of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has completed the final step in the manufacturing process. It is the first of the telescope's primary mirror segments to achieve this milestone. Northrop Grumman Corporation is leading the telescope's design and development effort for the space agency's Goddard Space Flight Center.

The mirror segment, an engineering development unit and flight spare, has been coated with an ultra-thin layer of evaporated gold to ensure that infrared light is properly reflected from the primary mirror into the observatory's science instruments. The next step is a trip to Ball Aerospace in Boulder, Colo., where the support and actuation structures will be attached. The entire assembly will then undergo a final cryotest in September and October at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. The primary mirror engineering development unit will be closely followed by the other 18 primary mirror flight segments in the coating process. Mirror manufacturing began seven years ago with beryllium blanks.

"This is the first primary mirror segment to have reached this level of completion and we have every confidence it is flightworthy," said Scott Willoughby, Webb Telescope program manager for Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems sector. "On the heels of a successful Mission Design Review, we continue to make significant progress with flight hardware components."

Teammate Quantum Coatings, Inc. built an 80-inch square chamber at its Moorestown, N.J. facility to perform the thermal evaporative gold coating process for the Webb mirrors. Each 4-ft.diameter primary mirror segment is suspended face down in the chamber. Gold is heated to its liquid point, over 2500 degrees Fahrenheit, and evaporates onto the mirror's optical surface. Several layers of material are applied to the beryllium mirrors: binder coatings between the gold coat and the mirror surface and between the gold and a final protective coat of silicon dioxide (glass). The coatings are 120 nanometers, a thickness of about a millionth of an inch or 200 times thinner than a human hair.

In addition, the Webb telescope's much smaller tertiary and fine steering mirrors have also been successfully coated. The 30 x18-inch tertiary mirror position is fixed -- the only mirror that is not adjustable -- so the rest of the telescope is aligned to this mirror. The 8 inch diameter fine steering mirror is used for accurate optical pointing and image stabilization. The smaller mirrors will be cryotested at Ball Aerospace and then integrated into the Aft Optics Subsystem during the telescope's integration and assembly phase.

The James Webb Space Telescope is the world's next-generation space observatory and successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. The most powerful space telescope ever built, Webb will observe the most distant objects in the universe, provide images of the very first galaxies ever formed and see unexplored planets around distant stars. Scheduled for launch in 2014, the Webb Telescope is a joint project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.

Northrop Grumman Corporation is a leading global security company whose 120,000 employees provide innovative systems, products, and solutions in aerospace, electronics, information systems, shipbuilding and technical services to government and commercial customers worldwide. Please visit www.northropgrumman.com for more information.

Source.
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Offline Space Pete

Re: NASA - James Webb Space Telescope - updates
« Reply #26 on: 08/31/2010 01:56 pm »
Ball begins work on James Webb.

Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. in Boulder will start work on a primary mirror segment of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope.

Ball Aerospace will attach support and actuation structures to the mirror segment, an engineering development unit and flight spare. The segment has been coated with an ultra-thin layer of evaporated gold to ensure that infrared light is properly reflected from the primary mirror into the observatory's science instruments.

The entire assembly will undergo a final cryotest in September and October at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The primary mirror engineering development unit will be closely followed by the other 18 primary mirror flight segments in the coating process. Mirror manufacturing began seven years ago.

Northrop Grumman Corp. is leading the telescope's design and development effort for the space agency's Goddard Space Flight Center.

The James Webb Space Telescope is the world's next-generation space observatory and successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. The Webb telescope will observe the most distant objects in the universe, provide images of the very first galaxies ever formed and see unexplored planets around distant stars. Scheduled for launch in 2014, the Webb Telescope is a joint project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.

Source.
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Offline jacqmans

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Re: NASA - James Webb Space Telescope - updates
« Reply #27 on: 09/08/2010 03:31 pm »
Guiding Light: The Canadian Space Agency “Eyes” Hubble’s Successor

 
Longueuil, Quebec, September 8, 2010 – The Canadian Space Agency has delivered a test unit of its contribution to the James Webb Space Telescope, successor of the Hubble Space Telescope, to NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.

The arrival of the engineering test unit marks a major milestone for the Canadian team. The hardware has been put through its paces at the Canadian Space Agency’s David Florida Lab to ensure that the final version will function at peak performance. While all space missions undergo extensive testing, this step is particularly crucial for Webb: unlike Hubble, Webb will be located 1.5 million km from Earth, and will be too far to be serviced by astronauts.

Canada is providing Webb’s Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS), as well as one of the telescope’s four science instruments called the Tunable Filter Imager (TFI). Both are being built in Ottawa and Cambridge, Ontario, by COM DEV International for the Canadian Space Agency. The Fine Guidance Sensor consists of two specialized cameras that are critical to Webb’s ability to “see”: they will work like a guiding scope to allow the Webb space telescope to locate its celestial targets, determine its own position and remain pointed at an object so that the telescope can collect high-quality data. The FGS will measure the position of guide stars with incredible precision, pinpointing them with an accuracy of one millionth of a degree (the angle formed by someone holding up a quarter at a distance of 1500 km away—from Montreal to St John’s, Newfoundland). The TFI’s unique capabilities will allow astronomers to peer through clouds of dust to see stars forming and planetary systems, possibly even exoplanets (planets outside our Solar System). It also offers unique capability to find the earliest objects in the Universe’s history. The Canadian Project Scientist for Webb is Dr John Hutchings of the National Research Council Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics in Victoria, BC. Dr René Doyon of the Université de Montréal is the principal investigator for TFI. Canada is also providing functional support of the science operations for the Webb space telescope. The Canadian Space Agency will deliver the flight units of the FGS and the TFI to NASA in 2011.

The Webb space telescope is an international collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency. Scheduled for launch in 2014, Webb will be the first next-generation large space observatory and will serve thousands of astronomers worldwide for a planned lifetime of 10 years or more. Designed to detect light from as far away as approximately 14 billion light years, it will study every phase in the history of our Universe, ranging from the first luminous glows after the Big Bang, to the formation of solar systems capable of supporting life on planets like Earth, to the evolution of our own Solar System. Its advanced technology also enables it to discover hitherto unknown phenomena in the Universe.


For more information on Canada’s involvement in the James Webb Space Telescope, including imagery, visit:


http://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/satellites/jwst/default.asp

Jacques :-)

Offline Space Pete

Re: NASA - James Webb Space Telescope - updates
« Reply #28 on: 09/10/2010 10:09 pm »
James Webb Space Telescope Cryogenic Mirror Test Facility Receives Gold.

A bit of gold made its way into the Rocket City last week in the form of a gold-coated James Webb Space Telescope primary mirror segment. It is the first primary mirror segment to achieve the final step in the manufacturing process, prior to undergoing cryogenic testing in the X-ray & Cryogenic Facility at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

The mirror segment, an engineering development unit and flight spare, has been coated with an ultra-thin layer of gold to ensure that infrared light is properly reflected from the primary mirror into the observatory's science instruments. The primary mirror engineering development unit will be closely followed by the other 18 primary mirror flight segments in the coating process.

During cryogenic testing, the mirrors are subjected to extreme temperatures dipping to -415 degrees Fahrenheit, which permits NASA contractor engineers to measure in extreme detail how the shape of the mirror changes as it cools -- just as each mirror will change shape over a range of operational temperatures in space. The cryogenic test series helps NASA predict how well the telescope will image infrared sources in those conditions.

The facility at Marshall is the world’s largest X-ray telescope test facility and a unique site for cryogenic, clean-room optical testing.

Northrop Grumman is the prime contractor for the Webb telescope, leading a design and development team under contract to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. Ball Aerospace of Boulder, Colo., is responsible for mirror testing.

The James Webb Space Telescope is NASA's next-generation space observatory and successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. The most powerful space telescope ever built, Webb will observe the most distant objects in the universe, provide images of the very first galaxies ever formed and help identify unexplored planets around distant stars. Scheduled for launch in 2014, the Webb Telescope is a joint project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.

Source (with accompanying images).
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Offline Space Pete

Re: NASA - James Webb Space Telescope - updates
« Reply #29 on: 09/28/2010 08:50 pm »
NASA's Webb Telescope Unique Structural "Heart" Passes Extreme Tests.
 
NASA engineers have created a unique engineering marvel called the ISIM structure that recently survived exposure to extreme cryogenic temperatures, proving that the structure will remain stable when exposed to the harsh environment of space. The material that comprises the structure, as well as the bonding techniques used to join its roughly 900 structural components, were all created from scratch.

The ISIM, or the Integrated Science Instrument Module Flight Structure, will serve as the structural "heart" of the James Webb Space Telescope. The ISIM is a large bonded composite assembly made of a light weight material that has never been used before to support high precision optics at the extreme cold temperatures of the Webb observatory.

Imagine a place colder than Pluto where rubber behaves like glass and where most gasses are liquid. The place is called a Lagrange point and is nearly one million miles from Earth, where the Webb telescope will orbit. At this point in space, the Webb telescope can observe the whole sky while always remaining in the shadow of its tennis-court-sized sunshield. Webb's components need to survive temperatures that plunge as low as 27 Kelvin (-411 degrees Fahrenheit), and it is in this environment that the ISIM structure met its design requirements during recent testing. "It is the first large, bonded composite space flight structure to be exposed to such a severe environment," said Jim Pontius, ISIM lead mechanical engineer at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

The passage of those tests represent many years of development, design, analysis, fabrication, and testing for managing structural-thermal distortion.

The ISIM structure is unique. When fully integrated, the roughly 2.2-meter (more than 7 feet) ISIM will weigh more than 900 kg (nearly 2000 lbs) and must survive more than six and a half times the force of gravity. The ISIM structure holds all of the instruments needed to perform science with the telescope in very tight alignment. Engineers at NASA Goddard had to create the structure without any previous guidelines. They designed this one-of-a-kind structure made of new composite materials and adhesive bonding technique that they developed after years of research.

The Goddard team of engineers discovered that by combining two composite fiber materials, they could create a carbon fiber/cyanate-ester resin system that would be ideal for fabricating the structure's 75-mm (3-inch) diameter square tubes. This was confirmed through mathematical computer modeling and rigorous testing. The system combines two currently existing composite materials — T300 and M55J — to create the unique composite laminate.

To assemble the ISIM structure, the team found it could bond the pieces together using a combination of nickel-iron alloy fittings, clips, and specially shaped composite plates joined with a novel adhesive process, smoothly distributing launch loads while holding all instruments in precise locations — a difficult engineering challenge because different materials react differently to changes in temperature. The metal fittings also are unique. They are as heavy as steel and weak as aluminum, but offer very low expansion characteristics, which allowed the team to bond together the entire structure with a special adhesive system.

"We engineered from small pieces to the big pieces testing all along the way to see if the failure theories were correct. We were looking to see where the design could go wrong," Pontius explained. "By incorporating all of our lessons learned into the final flight structure, we met the requirements, and test validated our building-block approach."

The Mechanical Systems Division at NASA Goddard performed the 26-day test to specifically test whether the car-sized structure behaved as predicted as it cooled from room temperature to the frigid — very important since the science instruments must maintain a specific location on the structure to receive light gathered by the telescope's 6.5-meter (21.3-feet) primary mirror. If the contraction and distortion of the structure due to the cold could not be accurately predicted, then the instruments would no longer be in position to gather data about everything from the first luminous glows following the big bang to the formation of star systems capable of supporting life.

The test itself also was a first for NASA Goddard because the technology needed to conduct it exceeded the capabilities then offered at the center. "The multi-disciplinary (test) effort combined large ground-support equipment specifically designed to support and cool the structure, with a photogrammetry measuring system that can operate in the cryogenic environment," said Eric Johnson, ISIM Structure Manager at NASA Goddard. Photogrammetry is the science of making precise measurements by means of photography, but doing it in the extreme temperatures specific to the Webb telescope was another obstacle the NASA engineers had to overcome.

Despite repeated cycles of testing, the truss-like assembly designed by Goddard engineers, did not crack. Its thermal contraction and distortion were precisely measured to be 170 microns — the width of a needle — when it reached 27 Kelvin (-411 degrees Fahrenheit), well within the design requirement of 500 microns. "We certainly wouldn't have been able to realign the instruments on orbit if the structure moved too much," Johnson said. "That's why we needed to make sure we had designed the right structure."

The same testing facility will be used to test other Webb telescope systems, including the telescope backplane, the structure to which the Webb telescope’s 18 primary mirror segments will be bolted when the observatory is assembled.

Related Links:

› In-depth feature story about the technology and testing

› JWST


www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/releases/2010/10-079.html
« Last Edit: 09/28/2010 08:52 pm by Space Pete »
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Offline agman25

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Re: NASA - James Webb Space Telescope - updates
« Reply #30 on: 09/29/2010 09:50 pm »
New Space Telescope Relies on Never-Before-Manufactured Material; No Problem, Says NASA


http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-09/build-new-space-telescope-nasa-engineers-design-impossible-again

Offline Space Pete

Re: NASA - James Webb Space Telescope - updates
« Reply #31 on: 10/01/2010 05:56 pm »
MIRI starts space adventure at STFC's Rutherford Appleton Laboratory.

The pioneering camera and spectrometer for the James Webb Space Telescope – the gigantic successor to the Hubble Telescope – is about to receive its first taste of the harsh conditions of space, without even leaving the UK.

The sophisticated instrument - designed to examine the first light in the Universe and the formation of planets around other stars – will shortly be put through its paces in the space test chamber at the Science and Technology Facility Council’s Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL). The tests include ensuring it can survive the vibrations of a rocket launch and operate successfully in the cold vacuum of space.

The journey to space began a few months ago when the flight model of MIRI was integrated at RAL, from key parts that have been developed at institutes across Europe. Each of these parts of MIRI have already, separately, undergone exhaustive mechanical and thermal testing to make sure they can not only survive the rigours of a journey into space, but also remain operational for the life of the mission. Now the whole instrument will be tested using specially designed facilities developed at RAL to simulate the environment that the instrument will experience once in space.

"Bringing the Flight Model MIRI to readiness for the testing is the culmination of several years hard work and dedication from the teams all around Europe along with the efforts from our US colleagues. The fact that we are now at that point is testament to the tremendous team spirit in the MIRI Consortium and there will be many people waiting to hear the test results" said John Thatcher, the MIRI European project manager from Astrium Ltd.

Dr David Parker, Director of Space Science and Exploration for the UK Space Agency, said, “MIRI is in for a tough old time in this mock space environment but we’re confident that this unique instrument is up to the job.”

He added, “With the UK playing a lead role in the instrument and the UK Astronomy Technology Centre being the overall science lead for it, this project is a great example of how the specialist skills of our UK scientists and space companies are being utilised for the biggest and most ambitious international space projects.”

The Webb telescope represents the next generation of space telescope and, unlike its predecessor Hubble, it will have to journey far from home. With a prospective launch date in 2014 its ultimate destination is L2, a gravitational pivot point located 1.5 million kilometres away, on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun. Here it is cool enough for MIRI's instruments to obtain the exquisite measurements that astronomers will use to help decipher the Universe.

“The first tests we will do simulate the 'shake, rattle and roll' that MIRI will see when the Ariane 5 rocket lifts off from South America on the JWST launch,” explained Nigel Morris, the RAL MIRI manager. “My team at RAL have constructed a specific test facility that will operate inside our main thermal vacuum chamber and simulate the extremely cold environment that the instrument will experience once in space,” he added. The facility will also cool MIRI itself down even further to its -266.5ºC operating temperature and allow the scientists to make their first measurements to calibrate the instrument.

One of the jewels in MIRI's crown is the potential to observe star formation that has been triggered by an interaction between galaxies. Conventionally, the emission from such events is shrouded by gas and dust in interstellar space. This is not a problem for MIRI, as it’s extremely low temperature (colder than the temperature on Pluto) will allow it to penetrate these obstructions.

Following completion of the tests MIRI will be shipped to the Goddard Space Flight Center in the US, next year, when the instrument will be integrated with the other instruments, the telescope and eventually with the spacecraft.

When MIRI eventually reaches its sheltered position, located four times further away from the Earth than the Moon, scientists can begin probing the Universe's secrets, including its earliest days. “We'd like to try and identify very young galaxies, containing some of the first stars that formed in the Universe,” says Gillian Wright, European Principal Investigator for MIRI based at the UK Astronomy Technology Centre.

The astronomers who will use MIRI and the Webb telescope are also particularly keen to explore the formation of planets around distant stars, another area where dust penetration becomes important. “MIRI is absolutely essential for understanding planet formation because we know that it occurs in regions which are deeply embedded in dust,” said Wright. MIRI's beam width of 6 microns allows the instrument to image 30-35 Astronomical Units (AU) of a protoplanetary disc. With most such discs thought to be hundreds of AU across, MIRI can build up highly resolved mosaics of these planetary nurseries in unprecedented detail. With its spectrometer, MIRI could even reveal the existence of water and/or hydrocarbons within the debris, paving the way for investigations into the habitability of other planetary systems.

The UK and MIRI

The UK’s lead role in the instrument involves taking responsibility for the overall science performance, the mechanical, thermal and optical design, along with the assembly, integration, testing and calibration. These roles are shared between the UK institutions in the partnership as follows:

• UK Astronomy Technology Centre (UKATC), Edinburgh – European
  science lead for the instrument; responsible for the overall instrument
  optical design and analyses, developing the overall calibration, and
  providing the spectrometer pre-optic subsystem.
• Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL), Oxfordshire – responsible for
  overall instrument thermal design and analysis and production of all
  thermal hardware; assembly, integration, testing & verification of
  instrument including provision of bespoke test facilities; instrument
  ground calibration.
• University of Leicester – responsible for instrument overall mechanical
  design and analysis; provision of instrument primary structure (in
  partnership with Danish National Space Centre); provision of
  mechanical ground support equipment.
• EADS Astrium – overall project management and engineering leadership
  role; systems engineering; overall instrument product assurance
  leadership.

The James Webb Space Telescope

The James Webb Space Telescope is a joint project of NASA, ESA and the Canadian Space Agency. It is scheduled to launch in 2014 and will carry four scientific instruments: MIRI (mid-infrared camera and spectrograph), NIRSpec (near-infrared spectrograph), NIRCam (near-infrared camera), and TFI (tunable filter imager).

MIRI

MIRI, the mid-infrared instrument, provides imaging, coronagraphy and integral field spectroscopy over the 5-28 micron wavelength range. It is being developed as a partnership between Europe and the USA - the main partners are ESA, a consortium of nationally funded European institutes, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). The European consortium includes: Astronomy Technology Centre, UK; Astron, Netherlands Foundation for Research in Astronomy, Netherlands; CCLRC, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL), UK; CEA Service d'Astrophysique, Saclay, France; Centre Spatial de Liège, Belgium; Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Spain; Danish Space Research Institute (DSRI), Denmark; Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, Ireland; EADS Astrium Ltd, UK; Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale (IAS), Orsay, France; Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial (INTA), Spain; Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille.


www.ukspaceagency.bis.gov.uk/News-and-Events/News/19755.aspx
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Offline Space Pete

Re: NASA - James Webb Space Telescope - updates
« Reply #32 on: 10/01/2010 10:18 pm »
NASA's Webb Telescope MIRI Instrument Takes One Step Closer To Space.

A major instrument due to fly aboard NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is getting its first taste of space in the test facilities at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) in the United Kingdom. The Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI) has been designed to contribute to areas of investigation as diverse as the first light in the early Universe and the formation of planets around other stars.

"The start of space simulation testing of the MIRI is the last major engineering activity needed to enable its delivery to NASA. It represents the culmination of 8 years of work by the MIRI consortium, and is a major progress milestone for the Webb telescope project," said Matt Greenhouse, NASA Project Scientist for the Webb telescope Integrated Science Instrument Module, at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

The James Webb Space Telescope represents the next generation of space telescope and, unlike its predecessor Hubble, it will have to journey far from home. Its ultimate destination is L2, a gravitational pivot point located 1.5 million kilometers (930,000 miles) away, on the opposite side of the Earth from the Sun. Here it is cool enough for the MIRI to obtain exquisite measurements that astronomers will use to help decipher the Universe. "At L2 we are at an environmentally stable point where we can be permanently shaded from light from the Sun and Earth. That allows us to reach the very low temperatures - as low as 7K (- 447.1 Fahrenheit) in the case of MIRI – that are necessary to measure in the mid-infrared," says Jose Lorenzo Alvarez, MIRI Instrument Manager for European Space Agency (ESA).

The MIRI provides imaging, coronagraphy and integral field spectroscopy over the 5-28 micron wavelength range. It is being developed as a partnership between Europe and the U.S. The MIRI is one of four instruments flying aboard the Webb telescope. The other instruments include: NIRSpec (a near-infrared spectrograph), NIRCam (a near-infrared camera), and TFI (a tunable filter imager).

One of the jewels in the MIRI's crown is the potential to observe star formation that has been triggered by an interaction between galaxies. This phenomena has been difficult to study with Hubble or ground-based telescopes since the optical and near-infrared light from these newly formed stars is hidden from view by clouds of dust that typically surround newly formed stars This will not be a problem for MIRI, as it is sensitive to longer wavelengths of light in the range 5 to 28 microns, which can penetrate the dust.

However, keeping the MIRI at a colder temperature than on Pluto, for a sustained period of time, was one of the biggest engineering challenges facing those charged with constructing the instrument. "A critical aspect, to achieving the right sensitivity, is to ensure stable operation at 7 Kelvin (- 447.1 Fahrenheit) that will last for the five years of the mission," explains Alvarez.

This past spring, the flight model of the MIRI began to take shape as the key sub-assemblies - the imager, the spectrometer optics, and the input-optics and calibration module - were delivered to RAL for integration. Each of the optical sub-assemblies of the MIRI had at that stage already, separately, undergone exhaustive mechanical and thermal testing to make sure they can not only survive the rigors of a journey to L2, but also remain operational for the life of the mission. At RAL, the sub-assemblies were integrated into the flight model and are now being tested again, as a complete instrument, using a specially designed chamber developed at RAL to reproduce the environment at L2.

For the purposes of these environmental and calibration tests the Webb telescope optics are simulated using the MIRI Telescope Simulator (MTS) that was built in Spain. Following completion of these tests, the MIRI will be shipped to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., U.S. next spring, when the instrument will be integrated with the Webb’s Integrated Science Instrument Module.

When the MIRI eventually reaches its sheltered position, located four times further away from the Earth than the Moon, scientists can begin probing the Universe's secrets, including its earliest days. "We'd like to try and identify very young galaxies, containing some of the first stars that formed in the Universe," says Gillian Wright, European Principal Investigator for MIRI based at the U.K. Astronomy Technology Centre, Edinburgh, U.K.

With the current generation of space telescopes, distinguishing between a galaxy mature enough to have a central black hole and a young galaxy at a high redshift is troublesome, as they appeared similar in the near-infrared. A key to the MIRI's potential success is its ability to see through cosmic dust. When stars form they burn through the elements, creating dust which ends up in the interstellar medium of the galaxy. The re-radiated emission from this dust creates a spectrum markedly different from that of a galaxy with no dust; the emission is expected to be 5-10 times stronger in the mature galaxy. "MIRI provides a diagnostic of whether there has been a previous generation of stars that had gone supernova and created dust. In the first generation of stars there would be no dust or black holes because there hadn't been time to make any," explains Wright.

The astronomers who will use the MIRI and the James Webb Space Telescope are also particularly keen to explore the formation of planets around distant stars, another area where the ability to peer through the dust becomes important. "MIRI is absolutely essential for understanding planet formation because we know that it occurs in regions which are deeply embedded in dust," said Wright. MIRI's beam width of 0.1 arc seconds allows the instrument to image 30-35 Astronomical Units (AU) of a proto-planetary disc.

With most such discs thought to be hundreds of AU across, the MIRI can build up highly resolved mosaics of these planetary nurseries in unprecedented detail. With its spectrometer, the MIRI could even reveal the existence of water and/or hydrocarbons within the debris, paving the way for investigations into the habitability of other planetary systems.

The James Webb Space Telescope is a joint project of NASA, ESA and the Canadian Space Agency.

Related Links:
› James Webb Space Telescope
› Information about the MIRI instrument
› More MIRI information from ESA
› International partners involved in the MIRI European Consortium


www.nasa.gov/topics/technology/features/miri-test.html
« Last Edit: 10/01/2010 10:19 pm by Space Pete »
NASASpaceflight ISS Editor

Offline Space Pete

Re: NASA - James Webb Space Telescope - updates
« Reply #33 on: 10/02/2010 02:15 pm »
A film-trailer style NASA TV video about JWST.

"Back to the Beginning".
NASASpaceflight ISS Editor

Offline Space Pete

Re: NASA - James Webb Space Telescope - updates
« Reply #34 on: 10/04/2010 06:32 pm »
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope Marks Milestone, Completes Final Polishing of First Flight Mirror Segment.

The first flight mirror segment for NASA's James Webb Space Telescope's (JWST) primary mirror has completed its final polishing process, the first of 18 segments that comprise the Observatory's 21 ft. primary mirror. Northrop Grumman Corporation is leading the design and development effort for the space agency's Goddard Space Flight Center.

"With the contributions of our JWST subcontractor L3-Tinsley, we've put forth a sustained effort over a number of years to achieve this milestone," said Scott Willoughby, Webb Telescope program manager for Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems. "This is a significant step as we move toward completion of the mirror manufacturing process and into integration and test."

Performed at Tinsley Laboratories Inc. in Richmond, Calif., the optical fabrication process is one of the longest and most rigorous steps in mirror manufacturing. Each of the 18 primary mirror segments undergoes high precision grinding, aspheric polishing and testing to tolerances as tight as 20 nanometers, or less than a millionth of an inch.

Each mirror segment is polished and tested at least 30 times. After each polishing cycle, the mirror segment is cooled to 80K (-315 deg. F) in a liquid nitrogen chamber to test the polishing process, which ensures that when the mirror segment reaches cryogenic temperatures, it will change its shape into the exact optical prescription needed for the mission.

The mirror segment will next be sent to Quantum Coatings, Inc. in Moorestown, N.J., where a thin coat of gold is deposited on the mirror's optical surface to increase its reflective properties. The layer of gold measures 120 nanometers, a thickness of about a millionth of an inch or 200 times thinner than a human hair. The segment will next be shipped to Ball Aerospace where actuators will be added, and then on to NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., for a cryotest at minus 400 degrees Fahrenheit (near absolute zero). The first mirror segment will be closely followed by the remaining 17 segments.

The James Webb Space Telescope is the world's next-generation space observatory and successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. The most powerful space telescope ever built, Webb will observe the most distant objects in the universe, provide images of the very first galaxies ever formed and see unexplored planets around distant stars. The Webb Telescope is a joint project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.

Northrop Grumman Corporation is a leading global security company whose 120,000 employees provide innovative systems, products, and solutions in aerospace, electronics, information systems, shipbuilding and technical services to government and commercial customers worldwide. Please visit www.northropgrumman.com for more information.


www.irconnect.com/noc/press/pages/news_releases.html?d=202836
NASASpaceflight ISS Editor

Offline Space Pete

Re: NASA - James Webb Space Telescope - updates
« Reply #35 on: 10/08/2010 09:33 pm »
Photo Release -- James Webb Space Telescope Sunshield Passes Launch Depressurization Tests to Verify Flight Design.

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope continues to make significant progress, successfully completing a series of sunshield vent tests that validate the telescope's sunshield design. Northrop Grumman Corporation is leading Webb's design and development effort for the space agency's Goddard Space Flight Center. Tests were conducted the last week of August in vacuum chambers at Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems' Redondo Beach facility.

Photos accompanying this release are available at: http://media.globenewswire.com/noc/mediagallery.html?pkgid=8131

Using flight-like sunshield membranes, the tests are designed to mimic the rapid change in air pressure the folded sunshield will experience the first minutes of launch. Several different folding configurations each underwent a series of  90-second depressurization tests and proved that the stowed sunshield will retain its shape during launch and allow trapped air to escape safely, both critical to sunshield deployment and performance.

"This is another significant risk reduction activity that continues to move sunshield development forward," said Scott Willoughby, Webb Telescope program manager for Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems. "We have demonstrated the effectiveness of our sunshield vent design and will use these test results to validate our analytical models in the next few months."

"While adequate venting is a design consideration for all spaceflight hardware, this was a particularly unique challenge for the sunshield given the large volume of trapped air in the membrane system at launch," said Keith Parrish, Webb telescope sunshield manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "From the beginning of its development, venting features have been a critical part of the overall sunshield design. Since we cannot vent-test the actual flight article, these tests have shown the design works and the sunshield will vent safely on its way to orbit."

Three critical full-scale sections of the sunshield were tested:  the section on top of the spacecraft around the tower that supports the telescope; the vertical pallet structure that contains the folded sunshield membranes, and the intervening four-bar linkage area that is folded in an inverted V-shape. The flow paths are complex and the sunshield material, a tough plastic film, Kapton ®E, is only one- to two-thousandths of an inch thick and covers a surface area the size of a tennis court. Another series of complementary tests slated for October will inject air into the stowed sunshield test article and provide more detailed data used in evaluating analytical models.

The Webb Telescope's sunshield is a five-layer structure the size of a tennis court. Each of the five membrane layers is about as thick as a human hair (one to two-thousands of an inch thick). The layers are separated from each other and held in place by spreader bars and deployable booms. The sunshield will absorb and deflect solar light to keep the telescope operating at cryogenic temperatures so infrared sensors can see into the most distant galaxies.

The James Webb Space Telescope is the world's next-generation space observatory and successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. The most powerful space telescope ever built, Webb will observe the most distant objects in the universe, provide images of the very first galaxies ever formed and see unexplored planets around distant stars. The Webb Telescope is a joint project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.

Northrop Grumman Corporation is a leading global security company whose 120,000 employees provide innovative systems, products, and solutions in aerospace, electronics, information systems, shipbuilding and technical services to government and commercial customers worldwide. Please visit www.northropgrumman.com for more information.


www.irconnect.com/noc/press/pages/news_releases.html?d=203270
NASASpaceflight ISS Editor

Offline Space Pete

Re: NASA - James Webb Space Telescope - updates
« Reply #36 on: 10/11/2010 06:41 pm »
Key Mirror Support Hardware Delivered for James Webb Space Telescope's High Fidelity Pathfinder.

Four Secondary Mirror Support Structure (SMSS) struts for the James Webb Space Telescope's (JWST) pathfinder were delivered in late August to Northrop Grumman Corporation by teammate Alliant Techsystems (ATK). Northrop Grumman is leading the design and development effort for NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

"Fabricating hardware that will perform perfectly in extreme temperatures is a considerable challenge," said Patty May, ATK's deputy JWST program manager. "We are proud to contribute our expertise in composite structural assemblies to help bring about the future discoveries of the James Webb Space Telescope."

Each of the four 24 foot-long struts weighs only 27 pounds. They were designed, engineered, fabricated and tested at ATK facilities in Magna, Utah as part of ATK's partnership with Northrop Grumman.

"This key hardware is critical to our test and verification program," said Scott Willoughby, JWST program manager for Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems sector. "ATK's expertise in meeting rigorous specifications and delivering on schedule is an important contribution to the success of the mission."

The pathfinder is a high fidelity model of the Optical Telescope Element (OTE), which is the eye of the Observatory. The pathfinder is a full-size structure with a subset of two primary mirror segment assemblies, the secondary mirror and aft optics subsystem. It consists of 12 of the 18 hexagonal cells (the center section) of the telescope and is a duplicate of the flight backplane, made of the same material with the same tolerances.

The pathfinder supports a variety of engineering model and flight optics and will demonstrate integration and alignment techniques, be subjected to optical performance measurement at cryogenic temperatures and will verify all ground system equipment and test procedures.

The James Webb Space Telescope is the world's next-generation space observatory and successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. The most powerful space telescope ever built, Webb will observe the most distant objects in the universe, provide images of the very first galaxies ever formed and see unexplored planets around distant stars. The Webb Telescope is a joint project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.

ATK is a premier aerospace and defense company with more than 18,000 employees in 24 states, Puerto Rico and internationally, and revenues of approximately $4.8 billion. News and information can be found at www.atk.com.

Northrop Grumman Corporation is a leading global security company whose 120,000 employees provide innovative systems, products, and solutions in aerospace, electronics, information systems, shipbuilding and technical services to government and commercial customers worldwide. Please visit www.northropgrumman.com for more information.


www.irconnect.com/noc/press/pages/news_releases.html?d=203353
NASASpaceflight ISS Editor

Offline Space Pete

Re: NASA - James Webb Space Telescope - updates
« Reply #37 on: 10/18/2010 05:07 pm »
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope Systems Engineering Evolves to Meet Demands of Integration and Test Phase.

As the James Webb Space Telescope enters its next critical phase of development NASA and Northrop Grumman Corporation have forged an integrated, consolidated and "badgeless" Mission Systems Engineering team.

Led by the James Webb Space Telescope Project Office at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., the Webb Telescope Mission Systems Engineering Team is being structured to optimize access to Northrop Grumman’s system engineering talent during the telescope’s critical test and verification phase which follows the successful Mission Critical Design review held in April.

"Northrop Grumman’s system engineering expertise will be integrated with NASA Goddard’s mission-level system engineering decision-making so we can better manage and streamline the complex integration and test phase of the telescope," said NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Director Rob Strain.

Northrop Grumman is leading Webb’s design and development effort for NASA and the company’s support is integral to mission-level systems engineering decisions, Strain said. Northrop Grumman engineers will work side-by-side with NASA engineers in conducting trade assessments across all elements of the program including the launch vehicle, observatory, ground system and Integrated Science Instrument Module.

"We look forward to continuing our close relationship with NASA in this new streamlined organization," said Dave DiCarlo, vice president and general manager of Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems. "This evolution will enable the entire project to maximize efficiencies and reduce costs so we can meet our goal of launching the Webb telescope earliest with the least risk."

A single systems engineering organization creates greater efficiencies by streamlining communications and decision-making, consolidating expertise into one integrated team. NASA has worked successfully in integrated teams with contractor systems engineering talent on earlier observatories. The Webb Mission Systems Engineering is modeled after the successful Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Systems Engineering organization.

The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s next-generation space observatory and successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. The most powerful space telescope ever built, Webb will observe the most distant objects in the universe, provide images of the very first galaxies ever formed and study unexplored planets around distant stars. The Webb Telescope is a joint project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.

For more information about NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, visit:
www.jwst.nasa.gov


www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/releases/2010/10-096.html
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Offline marsavian

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Re: NASA - James Webb Space Telescope - updates
« Reply #38 on: 10/28/2010 04:40 am »
NASA's next-generation space observatory promises to open new windows on the Universe — but its cost could close many more

http://www.nature.com/news/2010/101027/full/4671028a.html
http://www.nature.com/news/2010/101027/full/4671028a/box/1.html
http://www.nature.com/news/2010/101027/full/4671028a/box/2.html

Offline jacqmans

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Re: NASA - James Webb Space Telescope - updates
« Reply #39 on: 11/10/2010 07:32 pm »
MEDIA ADVISORY: M10-160

NASA HOLDS TELECONFERENCE ABOUT SPACE TELESCOPE REVIEW REPORT

WASHINGTON -- NASA will hold a media teleconference at 5 p.m. EST
today to discuss an independent review panel's report on the status
of the James Webb Space Telescope project.

NASA established the James Webb Space Telescope Independent
Comprehensive Review Panel at the request of Sen. Barbara Mikulski,
chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce,
Science and Related Agencies. The review panel was chaired by John
Casani of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif.

The teleconference participants are:

-- Chris Scolese, associate administrator, NASA Headquarters,
Washington
-- Richard Howard, deputy chief technologist, NASA Headquarters
-- John Casani
-- Garth Illingworth, review panel member, University of California
Observatories

To participate, reporters must contact Steve Cole at
[email protected] or 202-358-0918 for dial-in instructions.

Copies of the report will be available at 5 p.m. at:

http://www.nasa.gov/reports

Audio of the teleconference will be streamed live at:



http://www.nasa.gov/newsaudio

Jacques :-)

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