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Posted by Andrew Yee on March 26, 2008, 12:05 am
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Rob Gutro
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenebelt, Md. March 20, 2008
301-286-4044
Richard Bent
Northrop Grumman, Redondo Beach, Calif.
310-812-4215
RELEASE: 08-25
NASA'S WEBB TELESCOPE SUNSHIELD PRELIMINARY DESIGN REVIEW COMPLETE
GREENBELT, Md. -- The tennis court-sized sunshield built by Northrop
Grumman for NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has completed its
preliminary design review at the company's Space Technology facility.
The Webb Telescope is the next-generation space observatory, designed to
explore phenomena from distant galaxies to nearby planets and stars.
From the origins of the universe to the formation of star systems
capable of supporting life on planets such as Earth, the Webb telescope
will give scientists unprecedented access to unexplored regions of
space.
"The sunshield is absolutely critical to the Webb telescope mission"
says Keith Parrish, JWST Sunshield Manager at NASA's Goddard Space
Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. "It will be folded up around the telescope
when the telescope is aboard its rocket during launch. The sunshield
will then deploy in space to shade the sensitive, precision telescope
optics and science instruments from the Sun and enable the observatory
to reach its proper operating temperature and environment. Without it,
the telescope and instruments can't work. Northrop Grumman is leveraging
their experience in large deployable structures in space to come up with
a design that will do the job for the Webb telescope."
The five-layer sunshield consists of extremely thin, specially coated
reflective membranes and a supporting structure. The sunshield blocks
solar heat, keeping the telescope's science instruments operating at
cryogenic temperatures so astronomers can study distant galaxies, young
stars and planetary systems at near- and mid-infrared wavelengths.
"The completion of the preliminary design review allows the detailed
engineering design to move forward and maintains the delivery schedule
for the Observatory," said Martin Mohan, Program Manager for the Webb
Telescope.
Completion of the preliminary sunshield design is the latest in a series
of significant accomplishments. One year ago, the Northrop Grumman
engineers developing sunshield membrane materials demonstrated that the
sunshield prototype material had been successfully tested, functioning
as predicted, in a relevant environment (simulating space).
Northrop Grumman is prime contactor for the Webb Telescope, leading the
design and development effort under contract to NASA Goddard. It is
scheduled for launch in 2013.
For related images and more information, please visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2008/jwst_sunshield.html
For the James Webb Space Telescope Mission Website, visit:
http://jwst.gsfc.nasa.gov
For Northrop Grumman's Website, visit:
http://www.ngc.com
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