Engineering topics

Randy A Kimble

Publications and source records attributed to Randy A Kimble.

3 records

NASA NTRS2023

The Science Performance of JWST as Characterized in Commissioning

This paper characterizes the actual science performance of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), as determined from the six month commissioning period. We summarize the performance of the spacecraft, telescope, science instruments, and ground system, with an emphasis on differences from pre-launch expectations. Commissioning has made clear that JWST is fully capable of achieving the discoveries for which it was built. Moreover, almost across the board, the science performance of JWST is better than expected; in most cases, JWST will go deeper faster than expected. The telescope and instrument suite have demonstrated the sensitivity, stability, image quality, and spectral range that are necessary to transform our understanding of the cosmos through observations spanning from near-earth asteroids to the most distant galaxies.

Infrared astronomy↗

NASA NTRS2021

Status of the James Webb Space Telescope Mission

The James Webb Space Telescope ( Webb) is the largest space telescope realized to-date, with a 6.5 m segmented primary mirror that must be folded to fit within its Ariane 5 launcher fairing. This infrared telescope is passively cooled using a five-layer sunshield that will keep the optical telescope and its four science instruments in the shade throughout the lifetime of the mission in an L2 orbit. Webb's science instruments include near- and mid infrared imagers and spectrometers that cover the spectral range from 0.6-28.5 µm. The Webb mission has a long history with numerous first of its kind technology developments, ground support equipment innovations, and algorithmic characterization advances. This conference proceeding summarizes the technical progress over the past two years, from the Spacecraft Element environmental testing to the Observatory integration and testing, and the final Observatory test plans leading up to launch, on-orbit commissioning, and science operations.

Michael W McElwain↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Commissioning the James Webb Space Telescope Observatory

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is going through final integration and testing and is planned to launch in 2021. The last remaining optical challenge for JWST is to fully align the observatory in flight to meet the optical requirements but this effort involves many system considerations to do this safely and efficiently and the entire effort will take several months. This talk will cover what it takes to deploy and optically commission the telescope including the many interactions and constraints of deployment, thermal, optical, attitude control and contamination properties of the observatory. The talk will cover the final optical requirements that the telescope will need to meet and will provide the roadmap of timelines, cooldown profiles, Wavefront Sensing and Control steps, system constraint considerations, and implementation of lessons learned from the ground test campaign that will result in meeting those optical requirements. The talk will also cover the organizational structure and processes in place to assure this process will be successful and efficient.

Commissioning JWST OBS↗