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Frontiers of Engineering Reports on Leading-Edge Engineering from the 2015 Symposium (2016) / Chapter Skim
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Engineering the James Webb Space Telescope--Amy Lo
Pages 39-44

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From page 39...
... This paper describes the engineering needed to meet the JWST science goals, focusing on the precision design and testing required for the sunshield, which provides crucial protection to the telescope and scientific instruments. In addition, some of the challenges facing the alignment of the sunshield structure are discussed.
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From page 40...
... Bouwens, Leiden University; and the Hubble Ultra Deep Field 2009 (HUDF09) team.
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From page 41...
... ENGINEERING THE JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE The four science goals may be distilled to the following JWST primary imaging requirements : • targets anywhere in the sky • faint targets (requiring high sensitivity with low background) • small targets (requiring high resolution with low jitter)
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From page 42...
... Design, Function, and Performance Unlike the HST barrel assembly forming a cylinder centered on the primary optics, the open JWST sunshield design leaves the telescope exposed to space to facilitate the passive cooling of the optics to cryogenic temperatures of 40 to 50 Kelvin. This design also provides shadow over the JWST's pitch angles of +5° to −45° and roll angles of +5° to −5°.
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From page 43...
... To meet these performance requirements, the sunshield needs to be carefully aligned to ensure that the deployed structure maintains its edges within a few centimeters of the nominal location. Detailed performance analyses were necessary, starting with the on-orbit environment, where perturbations to the deployed sunshield were assessed and controlled.
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From page 44...
... A thorough set of alignment tests were baselined to measure and test the JWST sunshield in order to verify and/or demonstrate the values in the alignment error budget and quantify its on-orbit performance. Starting at the unit level and extending to the end of the observatory integration and test program, every major piece of the sunshield is measured, tested, and measured again to ensure that it has been properly characterized and its on-orbit performance is well understood.
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Key Terms

  • webb space
  • james webb
  • jwst sunshield
  • deep field
  • jwst science

  • space flight
  • hubble space
  • extreme deep
  • telescope portion
  • flight center

  • technology readiness
  • solar radiation
  • error budget
  • readiness level
  • cryogenic temperatures

  • launch shift
  • jwst critical
  • extensive testing
  • science images
  • hst barrel

  • thermal radiation
  • sunshield structure
  • items completed
  • recently completed
  • hubble extreme

  • extensive error
  • ten jwst
  • sunshield measuring
  • following jwst
  • telescope observatories


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