[meteorite-list] NASA's Webb Telescope Gets Its Wings

[Ron Baalke]

March 15, 2013

J.D. Harrington 
Headquarters, Washington 
202-358-5241 
j.d.harrington at nasa.gov 

Christina Thompson 
Northrop Grumman Corporation, Redondo Beach, Calif. 
310-812-2375 
christina.thompson at ngc.com 

Jennifer Bowman 
ATK, Magna, Utah 
435-279-3159 
jennifer.bowman at atk.com 

RELEASE: 13-072

NASA'S WEBB TELESCOPE GETS ITS WINGS

WASHINGTON -- A massive backplane that will hold the primary mirror of 
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope nearly motionless while it peers 
into space is another step closer to completion with the recent 
assembly of the support structure's wings. 

The wings enable the mirror, made of 18 pieces of beryllium, to fold 
up and fit inside a 16.4-foot (5-meter) fairing on a rocket, and then 
unfold to 21 feet in diameter after the telescope is delivered to 
space. All that is left to build is the support fixture that will 
house an integrated science instrument module, and technicians will 
connect the wings and the backplane's center section to the rest of 
the observatory. The center section was completed in April 2012. 

"This is another milestone that helps move Webb closer to its launch 
date in 2018," said Geoff Yoder, NASA's James Webb Space Telescope 
program director, NASA Headquarters, Washington. 

Designed, built and set to be tested by ATK at its facilities in 
Magna, Utah, the wing assemblies are extremely complex, with 900 
separate parts made of lightweight graphite composite materials using 
advanced fabrication techniques. ATK assembled the wing assemblies 
like a puzzle with absolute precision. ATK and teammate Northrop 
Grumman of Redondo Beach, Calif., completed the fabrication. 

"We will measure the accuracy down to nanometers -- it will be an 
incredible engineering and manufacturing challenge," said Bob 
Hellekson, ATK's Webb Telescope program manager. "With all the new 
technologies that have been developed during this program, the Webb 
telescope has helped advance a whole new generation of highly skilled 
ATK engineers, scientists and craftsmen while helping the team create 
a revolutionary telescope." 

When fully assembled, the primary mirror backplane support structure 
will measure about 24 feet by 21 feet and weigh more than 2,000 
pounds. The backplane must be very stable, both structurally and 
thermally, so it does not introduce changes in the primary mirror 
shape, and holds the instruments in a precise position with respect 
to the telescope. While the telescope is operating at a range of 
extremely cold temperatures, from minus 406 to minus 360 degrees 
Fahrenheit, the backplane must not vary more than 38 nanometers 
(about one one-thousandth the diameter of a human hair). The thermal 
stability requirements for the backplane are unprecedented. 

"Our ATK teammates demonstrated the thermal stability on test articles 
before building the wing assemblies with the same design, analysis, 
and manufacturing techniques. One of the test articles ATK built and 
tested is actually larger than a wing," said Charlie Atkinson, deputy 
Webb Optical Telescope Element manager for Northrop Grumman in 
Redondo Beach, Calif. "The mirrors are attached to the wings, as well 
as the rest of the backplane support structure, so the alignment is 
critical. If the wings distort, then the mirror distorts, and the 
images formed by the telescope would be distorted." 

The James Webb Space Telescope is the successor to NASA's Hubble Space 
Telescope. It will be the most powerful space telescope ever built 
and observe the most distant objects in the universe, provide images 
of the first galaxies 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. 

For the news release on the completion of the center section of the 
backplane, visit: 

http://go.nasa.gov/Zuggpq 

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

http://go.nasa.gov/Zugltr 

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

http://www.jwst.nasa.gov 
	
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