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Lightsey, Paul

Publications and source records attributed to Lightsey, Paul.

8 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2018

Breaking the Cost Curve: Applying Lessons Learned from the James Webb Space Telescope Development to Build More Cost-Effective Large Space Telescopes in the Future

This paper looks at the key programmatic and technical drivers of the James Webb Space Telescope and assesses ways to building more cost-effective telescopes in the future. The paper evaluates the top level programmatics for JWST along with the key technical drivers from design through integration and testing. Actual data and metrics from JWST are studied to identify what ultimately drove cost on JWST. Finally, the paper assesses areas where applying lessons learned can reduce costs on future observatories and will provide better insights into critical areas to optimize for cost.

ATLAST↗
NASA NTRS2017

JWST Point Spread Function Quality and Stability: Ground Testing, Integrated Modeling, and Space Validation

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a large (6.5 m) cryogenic segmented aperture telescope with science instruments that cover the near- and mid-infrared from 0.6-27 microns. The large aperture not only provides high photometric sensitivity, but it also enables high angular resolution across the bandpass, with a diffraction limited point spread function (PSF) at wavelengths longer than 2 microns. The JWST PSF quality and stability are intimately tied to the science capabilities as it is convolved with the astrophysical scene. However, the PSF evolves at a variety of timescales based on telescope jitter and thermal distortion as the observatory attitude is varied. We present the image quality and stability requirements, recent predictions from integrated modeling, measurements made during ground-based testing, and performance characterization activities that will be carried out as part of the commissioning process.

McElwain, Michael↗
NASA NTRS2009

Non-invasive Optical End-to-End Test of a Large TMA Telescope (JWST) from the Intermediate Focus

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) requires testing of the full optical system in a cryogenic vacuum environment before launch. Challenges with the telescope architecture and the test environment lead to placing removable optical test sources at the Cassegrain intermediate focus of the Telescope. The Science Instrument suite will be used to align the telescope and to verify the wavefront error. The Science Instruments capture test images that are analyzed using focus diverse phase retrieval. The wavefront sensing algorithms have the large dynamic range required to measure the relatively small wavefronts of interest in the presence of the large aberrations resulting from the off-axis source locations at the intermediate focus. These inherent aberrations of the off-axis design are removed analytically from the measured data. The test design and in-situ wavefront sensing process enables a number of tests to verify the alignment and optical quality of the system.

Whitman, Tony↗
NASA NTRS2003

The James Webb Telescope Instrument Suite Layout: Optical System Engineering Considerations for a Large, Deployable Space Telescope

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a space-based, infrared observatory designed to study the early stages of galaxy formation in the Universe. The telescope will be launched into an elliptical orbit about the second Lagrange point and passively cooled to 30-50 K to enable astronomical observations from 0.6 to 28 microns. A group from the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and the Northrop Grumman Space Technology prime contractor team has developed an optical and mechanical layout for the science instruments within the JWST field of view that satisfies the telescope s high-level performance requirements. Four instruments required accommodation within the telescope's field of view: a Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) provided by the University of Arizona; a Near-Mared Spectrometer (NIRSpec) provided by the European Space Agency; a Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and a European consortium; and a Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS) with a tunable filter module provided by the Canadian Space Agency. The size and position of each instrument's field of view allocation were developed through an iterative, concurrent engineering process involving the key observatory stakeholders. While some of the system design considerations were those typically encountered during the development of an infrared observatory, others were unique to the deployable and controllable nature of JWST. This paper describes the optical and mechanical issues considered during the field of view layout development, as well as the supporting modeling and analysis activities.

Bos, Brent↗
NASA NTRS2002

Ball Aerospace Actuator Cryogenic Testing

The ambient testing characterizing step size and repeatability for the Ball Aerospace Cryogenic Nano-Positioner actuators for the AMSD (Advanced Mirror System Demonstrator) program has been completed and are presented. Current cryogenic testing is underway. Earlier cryogenic test results for a pre-cursor engineering model are presented.

Kingsbury, Lana↗
NASA NTRS2002

Ball Aerospace AMSD Progress Update

The current status of the Advanced Mirror System Demonstrator program being performed by Ball Aerospace is presented. The hexagonal low-areal density Beryllium mirror blank has been fabricated and undergoing polishing at the time of this presentation.

Blair, Mark↗
NASA NTRS2002

Ball Aerospace SBMD Coating Test Results

The Sub-scale Beryllium Mirror Demonstrator that was successfully tested to demonstrate cryogenic figuring of a bare mirror has been coated with a protected gold reflective surface and retested at cryogenic temperatures. Results showing less than 9 nm rms surface distortion attributable to the added coating are presented.

Brown, Robert↗