Northrop Grumman Team Successfully Completes Manufacturing of Optical Class Spacecraft Structure for NASA's James Webb Space ...
October 08 2015 - 1:15PM
Manufacturing and assembly of the spacecraft structure that will
take NASA's James Webb Space Telescope to its ultimate destination
1 million miles from Earth was successfully completed July 1 at
Northrop Grumman Corporation's (NYSE:NOC) Redondo Beach facility.
Northrop Grumman is working with NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
in Greenbelt, Maryland, and leads the industry team that designs
and develops the Webb Telescope's optics, sunshield and spacecraft.
Photos accompanying this release are available at
http://media.globenewswire.com/noc/mediagallery.html?pkgid=36796
The spacecraft structure, or bus, is made of carbon fiber
composites and houses the spacecraft's propulsion, electrical power
and communications. The bus must withstand a force equivalent to 45
tons while supporting the observatory during launch.
While in orbit the spacecraft structure will provide pointing
and structural stability for the telescope down to one arcsecond.
The structure also provides dynamic isolation and attenuation of
vibration sources down to two milliarcseconds. This level of image
stabilization is equivalent to shining a laser beam from Los
Angeles to New York City, with less than 1.5 inches of motion.
The spacecraft structure integrates the system's optical
telescope, sunshield, and instrument electronics and mounts the
whole observatory to the Ariane 5 rocket — tasked with launching
the Webb Telescope to its destination in space. To launch such a
large observatory out to the L2 orbit 1 million miles away, the
structure must also be very light-weight so its mass efficiency
allows it to carry 64 times its own weight.
"The spacecraft structure provides state of the art capabilities
to support the James Webb Space Telescope's first light mission,"
said Andy Cohen, manager, Webb Telescope spacecraft, Northrop
Grumman Aerospace Systems. "Completing the manufacturing and
assembly of the spacecraft structure was a significant achievement
by many dedicated and diligent people. This milestone represents
the committed collaboration between the spacecraft structure's
manufacturing, engineering, integration and test teams. It also
signifies the continuing progress on the Webb Telescope, and will
culminate with the structure test, propulsion integration
completion and delivery to spacecraft Integration and Test by July
2016."
The James Webb Space Telescope is the world's next-generation
space observatory and successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. The
most powerful space telescope ever built, the Webb Telescope will
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.
Northrop Grumman is a leading global security company providing
innovative systems, products and solutions in unmanned systems,
cyber, C4ISR, and logistics and modernization to government and
commercial customers worldwide. Please visit
www.northropgrumman.com for more information.
CONTACT: Connie Reese
310-812-3166
connie.reese@ngc.com
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