NASA - NASA's Webb Telescope Gets Its Wings

Caption:NASA engineers check out the unwrapped ISIM structure in a clean room. The ISIM Structure supports and holds four Webb telescope science instruments.

Credit: NASA, Chris Gunn

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NASA'S Webb Telescope Flight Backplane Section Completed

 

 

WASHINGTON -- The center section of the backplane structure that will fly on NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has been completed, marking an important milestone in the telescope's hardware development. The backplane will support the telescope's beryllium mirrors, instruments, thermal control systems and other hardware throughout its mission.

"Completing the center section of the backplane is an important step in completing the sophisticated telescope structure," said Lee Feinberg, optical telescope element manager for the Webb telescope at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "This fabrication success is the result of innovative engineering dating back to the technology demonstration phase of the program."

The center section, or primary mirror backplane support structure, will hold Webb's 18-segment, 21-foot-diameter primary mirror nearly motionless while the telescope peers into deep space. The center section is the first of the three sections of the backplane to be completed.

Measuring approximately 24 by 12 feet yet weighing only 500 pounds, the center section of the backplane meets unprecedented thermal stability requirements. The backplane holds the alignment of the telescope's optics through the rigors of launch and over a wide range of operating temperatures, which reach as cold as - 406 degrees Fahrenheit. During science operations, the backplane precisely keeps the 18 primary mirror segments in place, permitting the mirrors to form a single, pristine shape needed to take sharp images.

The Northrop Grumman Corporation in Redondo Beach, Calif., and its teammate ATK in Magna, Utah, completed construction of the center section. Northrop Grumman is under contract to Goddard for the design and development of Webb's sunshield, telescope and spacecraft. ATK manufactured 1,781 composite parts of the center section using lightweight graphite materials and advanced manufacturing techniques.

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

For related images of the Webb telescope backplane, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/technology/features/webb-backplane.html

For a "Behind the Webb" series video about the backplane, visit:

http://webbtelescope.org/webb_telescope/behind_the_webb/11

For more information about the Webb telescope, visit:

 

www.jwst.nasa.gov

NASA's Webb Telescope Flight Backplane Section Completed

04.24.12

 

› Larger image
The center section of the James Webb Space Telescope flight backplane, or Primary Mirror Backplane Support Structure, at ATK’s manufacturing facility in Magna, Utah. Credit: ATK The center section of the backplane structure that will fly on NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has been completed, marking an important milestone in the telescope's hardware development. The backplane will support the telescope's beryllium mirrors, instruments, thermal control systems and other hardware throughout its mission.

"Completing the center section of the backplane is an important step in completing the sophisticated telescope structure," said Lee Feinberg, optical telescope element manager for the Webb telescope at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "This fabrication success is the result of innovative engineering dating back to the technology demonstration phase of the program."

The center section, or primary mirror backplane support structure, will hold Webb's 18-segment, 21-foot-diameter primary mirror nearly motionless while the telescope peers into deep space. The center section is the first of the three sections of the backplane to be completed.

› Larger image
Artist's concept of the James Webb Space Telescope in orbit. Credit: NASA Measuring approximately 24 by 12 feet yet weighing only 500 pounds, the center section of the backplane meets unprecedented thermal stability requirements. The backplane holds the alignment of the telescope's optics through the rigors of launch and over a wide range of operating temperatures, which reach as cold as - 406 degrees Fahrenheit. During science operations, the backplane precisely keeps the 18 primary mirror segments in place, permitting the mirrors to form a single, pristine shape needed to take sharp images.

The Northrop Grumman Corporation in Redondo Beach, Calif., and its teammate ATK in Magna, Utah, completed construction of the center section. Northrop Grumman is under contract to Goddard for the design and development of Webb's sunshield, telescope and spacecraft. ATK manufactured 1,781 composite parts of the center section using lightweight graphite materials and advanced manufacturing techniques.

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

Related Links:

› "Behind the Webb" series video about the backplane

› James Webb Space Telescope

Rob Gutro

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

Watch the Webb In Progress on our "Webb-cam"!

We now have two webcams in the Building 29 cleanroom at Goddard, one showing the left side and one showing the right. The camera images below are updated every minute. The cleanroom is generally occupied from 8:00am to 4:30pm Eastern, Monday - Friday. There may not be much activity outside of these hours.

The cleanroom is always changing so you may not see the same thing every time. One piece of hardware you can keep an eye out for is the flight ISIM Structure, a large, black, square, "latticed" box. This structure will hold Webb's science instruments and will sit behind the 6.5 meter mirror. The test versions of several of our instruments are also sometimes visible in the cleanroom.

The large structure taking up the right side of the clean room is the Ambient Optical Assembly Stand (AOAS), which will be used to assemble the mirrors and instruments of the James Webb Space Telescope.

(Right side)

(Left side of the cleanroom)

(There is always the possibility that the webcam may not function properly. Please bear with us if that is the case.)

 NASA
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
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