Best Telescope:Телескоп Гершель,OWL, JWST, greatest views

[Salo]

https://ria.ru/space/20161102/1480554463.html

НАСА завершило сборку телескопа "Джеймс Уэбб" и начало его испытания
17:32 02.11.2016

ВАШИНГТОН, 2 ноя – РИА Новости. НАСА завершило сборку космического телескопа "Джеймс Уэбб" и приступает к его испытаниям перед предстоящим в 2018 году запуском, сообщил ведущий научный сотрудник проекта Джон Мэтер.
"Телескоп готов, и теперь мы надеемся, что он переживет запуск, мы знаем, что он его выдержит, но для этого мы должны удостовериться в этом в ходе испытаний", — сказал ученый на брифинге, ставшем также первым показом готового телескопа. Как пояснил ученый, телескоп еще на Земле подвергнут нагрузкам, которые ему предстоит испытать во время старта, в том числе воссоздать тряску и шумовые нагрузки, которым он будет подвергнут.
Планируется, что новый телескоп будет запущен в октябре 2018 года. "Мы абсолютно уверены (что идем по графику). Мы идем по расписанию и в соответствии с бюджетом", — отметил глава НАСА Чарльз Болден. Он подчеркнул, что космический телескоп создан во взаимодействии с канадскими и европейскими космическими специалистами и является ярким примером международного сотрудничества.
Отвечая на вопрос о том, что ученые ожидают узнать с помощью нового телескопа, Мэтер сказал: "Надеюсь, мы найдем что-то, о чем никто ничего не знает". Он сообщил, что расчетное время службы телескопа — 5 лет, "мы рассчитываем на 10 или больше, но он определенно не вечен", сказал ученый. Также Мэтер пообещал, что все снимки с телескопа будут доступны общественности.
Работа над созданием телескопа "Джеймс Уэбб" продолжалась около 20 лет.

[che wi]

Top Ten Facts about the James Webb Space Telescope

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5HCy7oqgJg&feature=youtu.be

[PIN]

XMM старичок-бодрячок
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Operations/Teaching_an_old_satellite_new_tricks

[Salo]

https://ria.ru/science/20170125/1486429245.html

Инженеры НАСА нашли проблемы в зеркалах самого дорогого телескопа мира
12:02 25.01.2017

© EADS Astrium/NASA

МОСКВА, 25 янв – РИА Новости. Инженерная команда НАСА раскрыла причины появления аномалий во время вибрационных тестов телескопа  "Джеймс Уэбб" – оказалось, что один из "лепестков" его зеркала был закреплен не полностью, что заставляло его двигаться в стороны, сообщает пресс-служба НАСА.
"Десятки тестов и симуляций, проведенных в Центре космических полетов имени Годдарда, показали, что причиной появления вибрационных аномалий в декабре прошлого года было частичное раскрытие зеркал, возникшее из-за неплотной фиксации механизма, удерживающего их от раскрытия во время взлета. Все научные инструменты телескопа целы, и мы возобновили вибрационные тесты", — заявили в НАСА.
Новый телескоп "Джеймс Уэбб" (James Webb Space Telescope, JWST) является официальной заменой для орбитального телескопа "Хаббл", который проработал на орбите уже 25 лет. Изначально новый аппарат планировалось запустить в 2014 году, но значительное превышение затрат на него и отставание от графика вынудили НАСА перенести предполагаемую дату старта миссии сначала на сентябрь 2015 года, а затем – на октябрь 2018 года. Конгресс США неоднократно пытался "закрыть" проект из-за задержек в его сборке и выхода за рамки бюджета.
В начале декабря инженеры НАСА заявили о возможном появлении  больших проблем у "Джеймса Уэбба" – акселерометры, установленные на корпусе телескопа, зафиксировали некие неназванные аномалии во время вибрационных тестов. Это заставило НАСА провести детальную инспекцию телескопа, так как подобные аномалии могли указывать на наличие повреждений или трещин в инструментах или в корпусе "Джеймса Уэбба".
Как оказалось, проблемы действительно были, только они присутствовали не в конструкции самого телескопа, а в специальной системе креплений, которое удерживает "лепестки" зеркал "Джеймса Уэбба" на месте, не давая им развернуться.
Дело в том, что "Джеймс Уэбб", из-за своих огромных размеров будет отправлен в космос в сложенном виде. Его гигантское зеркало диаметром в 6,5 метра и экран аналогичных размеров, защищающий зеркало от Солнца, будут разделены на три части-"лепестка", которые отправятся в космос в сложенном виде, и раскроются только после вывода телескопа в космос.
Для того, чтобы зеркала не разрушились от перегрузок и вибраций, они будут закреплены во время запуска при помощи специальной системы зажимов, удерживающих на месте каждую из 18 "сот" главного зеркала "Джеймса Уэбба".
Как оказалось, один из этих зажимов неплотно прилегал к зеркалу и был плохо закреплен, что порождало небольшие "качания" в положении зеркала во время вибрационных тестов. Именно эти сдвиги зафиксировали акселерометры НАСА и заставили инженеров остановить тесты.
https://youtu.be/bTxLAGchWnA
https://youtu.be/bTxLAGchWnA
Сейчас специалисты НАСА и фирмы Нортроп-Грумман, разрабатывавшей телескоп, ликвидировали эту проблему и возобновили тесты, два из которых уже были успешно пройдены. Открытие этой проблемы, как отмечает команда "Джеймса Уэбба", заставило НАСА обратиться к компании Arianespace, на чьем ракетоносителе "Джеймс Уэбб" будет отправлен в космос, с просьбой обратить особое внимание на вибрационные тесты при установке телескопа на ракету.

[zandr]

https://ria.ru/science/20170426/1493161042.html

НАСА: скрип зеркал остановил сборку самого дорогого телескопа мира
МОСКВА, 26 апр – РИА Новости. Сборка орбитальной обсерватории "Джеймс Уэбб", самого дорогого телескопа мира, была остановлена в декабре прошлого года из-за плохой шлифовки деталей в креплениях его зеркал, заставившей их скрипеть и порождать вибрации при тестах, сообщил Эрик Смит, руководитель программы JWST в НАСА.
"Несмотря на это, мы до сих пор укладываемся и во временные рамки запуска миссии, и в бюджет. С другой стороны, сейчас мы начинаем очень сложный период в проверке телескопа, во время которого мы будем тестировать очень сложное оборудование и датчики. Поэтому можно понять, что инженеры будут вести себя особенно осторожно, если они видят какие-то аномалии", — заявил Смит.
Новый телескоп "Джеймс Уэбб" (James Webb Space Telescope, JWST) является официальной заменой для орбитального телескопа "Хаббл", который проработал на орбите более 25 лет. Изначально новый аппарат планировалось запустить в 2014 году, но значительное превышение затрат на него и отставание от графика вынудили НАСА перенести предполагаемую дату старта миссии сначала на сентябрь 2015 года, а затем – на октябрь 2018 года. Конгресс США неоднократно пытался "закрыть" проект из-за задержек в его сборке и выход за рамки бюджета.
В начале декабря инженеры НАСА заявили о возможном появлении  больших проблем у "Джеймса Уэбба" – акселерометры, установленные на корпусе телескопа, зафиксировали некие неназванные аномалии во время вибрационных тестов. Это заставило НАСА провести детальную инспекцию телескопа, так как подобные аномалии могли указывать на наличие повреждений или трещин в инструментах или в корпусе "Джеймса Уэбба".
Оказалось, что проблемы действительно были, только они присутствовали не в конструкции самого телескопа, а в специальной системе креплений, которое удерживает "лепестки" зеркал "Джеймса Уэбба" на месте, не давая им развернуться во время вывода телескопа в космос.
Как рассказывает Смит, чьи слова приводит онлайн-издание SpaceNews, инженеры НАСА внимательно изучили дефектное крепление и обнаружили достаточно тривиальную причину того, почему оно не было закрыто до конца. Ей был производственный брак.
По словам руководителя миссии, крепления зеркал состоят из двух пластинок, соединяющихся друг с другом при помощи зубчатых разъемов. Эти зубцы, по всей видимости, было плохо подогнаны друг к другу, из-за чего они касались друг друга не полностью.
Когда начались вибрационные тесты, эти зубцы в буквальном смысле слова начали "стучать" друг об друга, что породило аномальные вибрации и шумы, которые сначала зафиксировали автоматические датчики, а потом услышали специалисты НАСА. Когда инженеры заменили дефектное крепление, стучание прекратилось, и телескоп успешно прошел все вибрационные и акустические тесты.
Поиск причин аномалии и "разбор полетов" сдвинули время сборки телескопа на два месяца – он должен был отправиться в Центр космических полетов имени Джонсона в Хьюстоне еще в марте, и Смит не ожидает, что телескоп будет отправлен туда раньше мая.
С аналогичными проблемами столкнулись разработчики космической платформы, случайно сломавшие несколько переходников при тесте двигателей будущей обсерватории. Это тоже сдвинуло сроки сборки телескопа и отправки его в Хьюстон на май этого года. Тем не менее, в НАСА надеются, что все эти задержки не выйдут за рамки времени, выделенного на подобные "ЧП" при формулировке планов по сборке телескопа.

[triage]

https://ria.ru/science/20170426/1493161042.html

НАСА: скрип зеркал остановил сборку самого дорогого телескопа мира

Остановил, но проблема уже была решена.
Первоисточник

http://spacenews.com/latch-blamed-for-jwst-vibration-test-anomaly/
...
Despite the problems, Smith said that JWST remained on budget and on schedule. The program currently has 4.75 months of schedule reserve, which is roughly in line with the plan at this stage in development. That schedule reserve is projected to decrease over time to deal with problems anticipated to crop up during testing.
....

[tnt22]

Webb Telescope Passes Important Optical Test on This Week @NASA – May 5, 2017
 

NASA

Опубликовано: 5 мая 2017 г.

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has successfully passed the center of curvature test at Goddard Space Flight Center, in Greenbelt, Md. This important optical measurement of Webb's fully assembled primary mirror was the final test held at Goddard before the telescope is shipped off for end-to-end cryogenic testing at Johnson Space Center in Houston. When that's complete, the world's most advanced observatory goes to Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems in Redondo Beach, California, for final assembly and testing. Webb is targeted for launch in 2018 on a mission to help unravel some of the greatest mysteries of the universe. Also, Cassini Update, NASA Visits Midwest Company Helping Build Orion, Orion's Launch Abort System Motor Tested, Wind Tunnel Tests Continue with SLS, and Community College Aerospace Scholars!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3F5ZXhuD70
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3F5ZXhuD70 (3:44)

[tnt22]

NASA Webb Telescope‏Подлинная учетная запись @NASAWebb 15 ч. назад

@NASAWebb arrived at @NASA_Johnson for its last cryogenic test before it is launched into space in 2018. Read more: https://go.nasa.gov/2paOVS4 

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/james-webb-space-telescope-arrives-at-nasa-s-johnson-space-center

May 7, 2017

James Webb Space Telescope Arrives at NASA's Johnson Space Center

Спойлер

The James Webb Space Telescope is pushed into the clean room of Building 32. Building 32 houses Chamber A, the thermal vacuum chamber where the telescope will have its final thermal vacuum testing.
Credits: NASA/Chris Gunn

[свернуть]

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has arrived at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, where it will undergo its last cryogenic test before it is launched into space in 2018.

The telescope was loaded onto a trailer truck fr om NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, and moved slowly down a highway by the Webb team to U.S. Air Force's Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. At Andrews, the telescope was then loaded onto a C-5 aircraft and flown to Ellington Field in Houston, Texas.

Спойлер

When the C-5 landed at Ellington, the telescope was carefully unloaded and delivered to NASA Johnson. In the coming weeks, the telescope will be prepared for a final cryogenic test that will run approximately 100 days. Then, it will continue its journey to Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems in Redondo Beach, California, for final integration and testing with the remainder of the Webb Observatory—the sunshield and spacecraft bus—prior to launch.
To ensure the telescope's optics will operate at its frigid destination 1 million miles out in space, it must complete several cryogenic tests. The last cryogenic test will occur in Johnson's Chamber A, the same vacuum chamber wh ere the Apollo spacecraft were tested. This critical end-to-end optical test will test the telescope at its extremely cold operating temperatures—at 40 Kelvin—the temperature that it will operate in space.

The James Webb Space Telescope is the world's most advanced space observatory. This engineering marvel is designed to unravel some of the greatest mysteries of the universe, from discovering the first stars and galaxies that formed after the big bang to studying the atmospheres of planets around other stars. It is a joint project of NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).

For further information about the James Webb Space Telescope, visit:  jwst.nasa.gov or www.nasa.gov/webb

Laura Betz
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland

Jenny Knotts
NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas

[свернуть]

Last Updated: May 8, 2017
Editor: Mark Garcia

[tnt22]

Airbus Space‏Подлинная учетная запись @AirbusSpace 1 ч назад

#JWST moving forward – latest milestone for @AirbusSpace contributions to the mission. @NASAWebb @esa https://airbusdefenceandspace.com/newsroom/news-and-features/james-webb-space-telescope-moving-forward-latest-milestone-for-airbus-contributions-to-the-mission/ ...

https://airbusdefenceandspace.com/newsroom/news-and-features/james-webb-space-telescope-moving-forward-latest-milestone-for-airbus-contributions-to-the-mission/

James Webb Space Telescope moving forward – latest milestone for Airbus contributions to the mission

May 8, 2017 - Press release

James Webb telescope and instrument module shipped by NASA fr om Goddard Space Flight Centre in Washington to Johnson Space Centre in Houston for final tests

Спойлер

[свернуть]

Houston 08/05/2017 – OTIS (Optical Telescope Element and Integrated Science), the payload module hosting the telescope and the instruments for the giant James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has been shipped by NASA to the Johnson Space Centre (JSC) in Houston, Texas. OTIS includes two European instruments with major Airbus contributions, the near-infrared spectrograph NIRSpec built by Airbus and the mid-infrared instrument MIRI built with the support of Airbus.

NIRSpec, weighing 200kg, will be able to detect the faintest radiation from the most distant galaxies, observing more than 100 of them simultaneously. It will observe large samples of galaxies and stars at unprecedented depths across large swathes of the Universe and far back in time. Once launched, NIRSpec, known as the 'super eye', will operate at a temperature of -238°C. The instrument was developed by Airbus for the European Space Agency (ESA).

The MIRI instrument is a combined camera, spectrograph and coronagraph for mid-infrared wavelengths that will extend JWST's observation capabilities to longer wavelengths, vital for the study of light from objects in the early universe or to peer inside dust clouds wh ere stars and planetary systems are forming today. MIRI was developed by a European consortium of 21 institutes from 10 ESA member states as well as NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Goddard Space Flight Centre, led by the UK's Astronomy Technology Centre with project management from Airbus.

Спойлер

"This is a fantastic next step for the James Webb Space Telescope – bringing it one step closer to launch on Ariane 5," said Nicolas Chamussy, Head of Space Systems. "JWST will enable us to study the early Universe and peer inside dust clouds to study star formation. This spacecraft represents the pinnacle of technology for modern astronomy, and shows Airbus' outstanding expertise in support of the scientific research that JWST will carry out."

NASA, ESA, and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) are collaborating to develop JWST, designed to be the next step after the legendary Hubble Space Telescope. After its launch in 2018 on an Ariane 5 launcher from Europe's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, JWST will be the largest astronomical telescope in space. It will be able to study key phases in the evolution of the Universe in great detail – from the formation of the first stars and galaxies only a few hundred millions years after the Big Bang to the formation of planetary systems in our own Milky Way galaxy today.

About Airbus

Airbus is a global leader in aeronautics, space and related services. In 2016, it generated revenues of € 67 billion and employed a workforce of around 134,000. Airbus offers the most comprehensive range of passenger airliners from 100 to more than 600 seats. Airbus is also a European leader providing tanker, combat, transport and mission aircraft, as well as Europe's number one space enterprise and the world's second largest space business. In helicopters, Airbus provides the most efficient civil and military rotorcraft solutions worldwide.


Press contacts:
Ralph Heinrich
+49 (0)171 30 49 751
ralph.heinrich@airbus.com
Jeremy Close
+44 (0)7766 536 572
jeremy.close@airbus.com
Guilhem Boltz
+33 (0)6 34 78 14 08
guilhem.g.boltz@airbus.com
Francisco Lechón
+34 630 196 993
francisco.lechon@airbus.com


Download
Presss Release SPACE SYSTEMS 08052017-EN
Presss Release SPACE SYSTEMS 08052017-FR
Presss Release SPACE SYSTEMS 08052017-DE
Presss Release SPACE SYSTEMS 08052017-ES

[свернуть]

[tnt22]

https://spaceflightnow.com/2017/05/09/james-webb-space-telescope-shipped-to-texas-for-its-biggest-test-yet/

James Webb Space Telescope shipped to Texas for its biggest test yet
May 9, 2017 Stephen Clark

Спойлер

The primary mirror of the James Webb Space Telescope pictured at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Credit: NASA/Chris Gunn

[свернуть]

The centerpiece of the James Webb Space Telescope has arrived at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston for a three-month test to ensure the observatory's sensors and gold-coated mirrors work in the frigid temperatures of deep space.

While the assembly and initial checks of the telescope's durability have uncovered no major problems, NASA officials caution that the $10 billion, multi-national project is on the cusp of some of its most critical tests leading up to a planned launch in October 2018.

Over the next few months, technicians will unpack the telescope and install it inside a thermal vacuum chamber at the space center, then pump air out of the test facility as helium and liquid nitrogen chills the hardware to a temperature colder than minus 370 degrees Fahrenheit, or about 50 degrees Kelvin, a measure above absolute zero.

Спойлер

Parts of the telescope, the largest ever built to fly in space, will be even colder during the 93-day freeze to verify the sensitivity of JWST's infrared detectors, part of an end-to-end test of the observatory's optics to ensure they will function in space.

The mission's four science instruments already went through three cryogenic tests at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, but officials had to ship the fully-assembled telescope to Houston to subject the complete structure to the conditions it will encounter in space.

"The Webb telescope is about to embark on its next step in reaching the stars as it has successfully completed its integration and testing at Goddard. It has taken a tremendous team of talented individuals to get to this point fr om all across NASA, our industry and international partners, and academia," said Bill Ochs, NASA's Webb telescope project manager, in a press release. "It is also a sad time as we say goodbye to the Webb Telescope at Goddard, but are excited to begin cryogenic testing at Johnson."

JWST's suite of instrumentation peer back in time, resolving the first stars and galaxies that formed in the dark early universe around 13.5 billion years ago, a few hundred million years after the Big Bang.


JWST will peer back in time to the earliest epoch of the universe. Credit: Space Telescope Science Institute

In the Milky Way Galaxy, the observatory will see into clouds of gas and dust wh ere stars and planets are forming. JWST will determine that chemical make-up of atmospheres of planets around other stars, producing data on which worlds might be habitable.

Some of the observatory's scientific targets are among the coldest spots in the known universe, requiring the telescope's sensors to be even colder to register infrared light coming from faraway stars and galaxies.

The cryogenic test at Johnson Space Center will occur inside "Chamber A," the largest facility in the world designed to mimic the cold, airless conditions of deep space.

NASA tested Apollo spacecraft inside Chamber A, a National Historic Landmark, before sending astronauts to the moon.

Eric Smith, director of the JWST program at NASA Headquarters, said last month that the coming months include "a lot of very challenging activities that are new, and they carry a lot of risk with them."

The "serialized" test and assembly steps planned over the next year mean each milestone is vital for JWST to remain on schedule for its October 2018 launch on an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou, French Guiana.

Instead of accomplishing parallel work on JWST's instruments, mirrors, thermal sunshield and spacecraft components, big pieces of the observatory are coming together. Smith told NASA's Astrophysics Advisory Committee on April 24 that the program is down to two hardware flows now.

"If something gets delayed, you don't have progress you can make with another piece of the schedule," Smith said. "It's all kind of lining up in a row."


A webcam view of the James Webb Space Telescope on Tuesday inside the clean room adjacent to Chamber A at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Credit: NASA
 
Since December, technicians at Goddard put the telescope and instrument segment of JWST through vibration and acoustic testing to ensure its sensitive components, such as internal camera micro-shutters, will survive the rough conditions of launch. Engineers halted vibration testing more than a month after ground crews heard an unexpected noise during shake testing on the telescope.

Smith said the problem was traced to a latching mechanism that did not seat properly before the test. The latch holds one of the telescope's wings folded up for launch to fit inside the Ariane 5's payload, then releases once JWST is in space to fully deploy its 21.3-foot-diameter (6.5-meter) primary mirror.

Two plates in the latching mechanism clapped together to create the noise, but Smith said technicians found no sign of damage to the telescope. The problematic latch was a test unit, and was already due to be replaced with a space-qualified latch before the mission's launch.

Engineers wrapped up vibration and acoustic tests in March, then spent several weeks re-checking the telescope's alignment and curvature to make sure it survived the testing unscathed.

"Before and after these environmental tests took place, optical engineers set up an interferometer, the main device used to measure the shape of the Webb telescope's mirror," NASA said in a statement. "An interferometer gets its name from the process of recording and measuring the ripple patterns that result when different beams of light mix and their waves combine or 'interfere.'"

The primary mirror is made of 18 gold-coated beryllium hexagonal mirror segments made by Ball Aerospace. Each segment more than half the size of the mirror on the Hubble Space Telescope.

The primary mirror segments and JWST's secondary mirror will adjust their focus with the help of tiny mechanical motors once the telescope is in space.

"Some people thought it would not be possible to measure beryllium mirrors of this size and complexity in a clean room to these levels but the team was incredibly ingenious in how they performed these measurements and the results give us great confidence we have a fantastic primary mirror," said Lee Feinberg, Webb's telescope optical element manager.

"The measurements are very stringent for us," Smith said. "We do have to measure our surface figure within a fraction of (the size of) a bacterium, and keep it clean ... We have to keep the optics clean, which is especially challenging for a telescope that has naked optics."


The James Webb Space Telescope is seen during a "lights out" inspection on March 5. The clean room lights were turned off to inspect the telescope after it experienced vibration and acoustic testing. The contamination control engineer used a bright flashlight and special ultraviolet flashlights to inspect for contamination because it's easier to find in the dark. Credit: NASA/Chris Gunn

"It's pretty exciting to see $4 billion worth of hardware being shaken like that, but it passed the vibration testing," Smith said.

The methodical checks of JWST's optics after vibration testing, and in cryogenic conditions, are aimed at avoiding a repeat of the mirror deformity that plagued the Hubble Space Telescope after its launch in 1990. Space shuttle astronauts had to add corrective vision aids to the orbiting observatory in 1993 to fix the problem.

No such astronauts visits are planned to JWST, which is not designed to be serviced in space.

Smith said the observatory program, a partnership between NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency, has around four-and-three-quarters months of slack in the schedule leading up to the October 2018 launch window.

The vibration test glitch in December consumed more than a month of schedule margin.

The super-cold test in Houston will be the last time the telescope experience something like its operating environment until launch. The entire observatory cannot be tested in such a way once the telescope element is connected to the mission's spacecraft module at Northrop Grumman Corp. in Southern California.

"Why do we do these tests? There's a lot of verification that has to go on, and unlike most NASA missions, we can't test like we fly," Smith said. "We're just too big. There's no vacuum chamber big enough in the world."

"We have to do our testing piecemeal, and then use analysis to make sure that it all comes together in the end," Smith said.

During the cryogenic test in Houston, which should begin in July, engineers will trace the path light from cosmic targets will take from JWST's primary mirror, through secondary and tertiary mirrors, and finally to the instrument's detectors.

Engineers put models of the telescope into the cryogenic vacuum chamber in Houston over the last few years to practice for the upcoming test.

The telescope flew from Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, to Ellington Field near the Johnson Space Center over the weekend aboard a U.S. Air Force C-5 cargo plane.

During the next few weeks, workers will unpack the telescope from its shipping container and roll it into the cavernous vacuum chamber. It will take around 30 days to chill the chamber to JWST's operating temperature.

In the meantime, engineers at Northrop Grumman's satellite factory in Redondo Beach, California, are putting together the spacecraft that will host the telescope. The platform will provide propulsion, electricity, cooling and pointing for JWST at its operating post at the L2 Lagrange point, a gravitational balance point located around 930,000 miles (1.5 million kilometers) from Earth in the direction opposite the sun.

JWST's sunshield, comprising five membrane layers of kapton each as thin as a human hair, is also being attached to the spacecraft in Southern California.


JWST's five-layer thermal sunshield, about the size of a tennis court, will keep the observatory cold enough to detect infrared light. The final kapton layer was delivered to Northrop Grumman from a factory in Huntsville, Alabama, last year. Credit: Northrop Grumman

Spacecraft assembly tasks have also been delayed a few months recently for technicians to re-weld transducers into the propulsion system to replace units damaged during testing.

Workers will install deployable radiators on the spacecraft and put the platform through an acoustic test in July. The spacecraft's own cryogenic thermal vacuum test is scheduled for September in Redondo Beach, around the same time the telescope is undergoing its freeze test in Houston.

The telescope join the other half of JWST in California around November for a final sequence of combined vibration and acoustic tests, making it perhaps the most tested vehicle ever sent into space, according to Smith.

Another crucial milestone scheduled for early 2018 will be the full deployment of the observatory into its flight configuration. Because of the envelope of the Ariane 5's nose cone — the largest payload shroud currently available — JWST will launch with its mirrors, sunshield and solar panels folded up origami-style.

Depending on how you count, Smith said JWST will have more than 300 deployments after it separates from from the upper stage of the Ariane 5 launcher. Counting steps in a similar way, the Curiosity Mars rover had around 70 deployments, according to Smith.

A complicated apparatus of hoists, cranes and lift fixtures will counteract the effect of gravity during the deployment testing. JWST's mechanisms are designed to function in microgravity, not the 1g environment on Earth.

The spacecraft will travel by boat from Southern California through the Panama Canal to the Ariane 5 launch base in Kourou, French Guiana, in mid-2018 for fueling and final launch preparations.

"We are still on track budget- and schedule-wise, but we are moving into a very challenging period with enormous tests of very complex hardware," Smith said.

The JWST program escaped the danger of being canceled in 2011 as delays mounted and costs skyrocketed. NASA officials re-planned the program's budget and schedule at that time, committing to launching the mission by October 2018 at a cost of $8.84 billion to the U.S. space agency.

Adding the contributions of European and Canadian partners, including the Ariane 5 launcher, pushes the mission's total cost to around $10 billion.

But any significant problems during the rapid-fire test campaign over the next year could delay the launch date.

"People are naturally going to be very cautious if they see any anomalies," Smith said.

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[zandr]

http://tass.ru/kosmos/4257428

Телескоп James Webb доставлен в Техас и подготовлен к финальным испытаниям

© NASA/Desiree Stover
НЬЮ-ЙОРК, 17 мая. /Корр. ТАСС Алексей Качалин/. Сотрудники Центра космических полетов имени Джонсона в Хьюстоне (штат Техас) подготовили сегменты гигантского орбитального телескопа James Webb для финальных испытаний перед вводом в эксплуатацию в 2018 году. Об этом сообщило во вторник Национальное управление США по аэронавтике и исследованию космического пространства (NASA).
Телескоп, который NASA называет самой совершенной в мире космической обсерваторией, был доставлен из Центра космических полетов имени Годдарда в Гринбелте (штат Мэриленд) в Хьюстон 7 мая. Для транспортировки был выбран один из самых крупных военно-транспортных самолетов C-5C производства аэрокосмической корпорации Lockheed Martin.
Испытания телескопа начнутся "через несколько недель" и будут длиться "почти сто дней", уточнило NASA. Срок его эксплуатации рассчитан на 10 лет. Защитный кожух аппарата должен не допустить перегрева рабочей поверхности телескопа под воздействием солнечных лучей и поддерживать постоянную температуру в районе минус 220 градусов по Цельсию. После завершения последнего этапа испытаний James Webb доставят из Хьюстона на предприятие корпорации Northrop Grumman в Редондо-Бич (штат Калифорния), где будет проведена окончательная сборка перед запуском.
На James Webb установлено зеркало диаметром 6,5 метра. Зеркальная решетка телескопа состоит из 18 сегментов, каждый из которых имеет форму равностороннего шестиугольника и весит около 40 кг. Для их производства был выбран бериллий - материал, устойчивый к сверхнизким температурам. Ученые рассчитывают с помощью нового аппарата узнать больше о формировании галактик, звезд и планет, в том числе объектов в Солнечной системе.
NASA планирует вывести телескоп имени Джеймса Уэбба на орбиту при помощи европейской ракеты-носителя "Ариан-5", которая будет запущена с космодрома Куру во Французской Гвиане.

[ОАЯ]

http://news.northropgrumman.com/news/releases/northrop-grummans-astro-aerospace-delivers-mission-critical-capability-for-nasas-james-webb-space-telescope

CARPINTERIA, Калифорния - 26 июня 2017 г. - Корпорация Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC) достигла еще одного важного рубежа для космического телескопа Джеймса Вебба NASA с доставкой сборных средних стрел. Графитно-эпоксидные сборки были спроектированы, построены и испытаны компанией Astro Aerospace, компанией Northrop Grumman.
Космический телескоп NASA Джеймс Вебб состоит из четырех основных компонентов: телескопа, интегрированного научного инструментального модуля, космического корабля и солнечного экрана. ...Northrop Grumman разработала привод солнечного экрана...Узел средней стрелы прикреплен к боковым сторонам шины космического корабля и удлиняется в длину, чтобы развернуть солнечный экран. Каждый из них состоит из шести телескопических графито-эпоксидных композитных труб, один вложенных внутри другого, с закаленной предварительно изогнутой полосой из нержавеющей стали, внутри которой намотана моторизованная катушка...некоторые кабели из нержавеющей стали и набор шкивов и пружин на конце наконечника. Средние стрелы очень похожи на развернутую автомобильную антенну. ... скручивается на себя, образуя жесткую трубку, которая выталкивает вложенные композитные трубки до тех пор, пока пять подвижных трубок не будут полностью выдвинуты и заблокированы. Трубы изготовлены из графито-эпоксидного композитного материала, чтобы быть легкими, жесткими и прочными, чтобы обеспечить стабильность при экстремальных изменениях температуры. По мере того как средние боны расширяются, они вытаскивают из них солнцезащитные мембраны Webb, тем самым разворачивая их. После того, как трубки полностью выдвинуты...Сборники средней стрелы были спроектированы и построены Astro Aerospace в Голета, штат Калифорния....

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https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/nasa-closes-chamber-a-door-to-commence-webb-telescope-testing

July 11, 2017

NASA Closes Chamber A Door to Commence Webb Telescope Testing

The vault-like, 40-foot diameter, 40-ton door of NASA's Johnson Space Center's historic Chamber A sealed shut on July 10, 2017, signaling the beginning of about 100 days of cryogenic testing for NASA's James Webb Space Telescope in Houston.

Don't be fooled by Chamber A's now monolithic look. Behind the hulking door, the process to transform the chamber's interior to match the airless, frigid environment of space will soon begin. It will take about 10 days to pull the air from the chamber, and then about one month to lower the temperatures of the Webb telescope and its scientific instruments to the levels required for testing.

Спойлер

Engineers watch as Chamber A's colossal door closes at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Credits: NASA/Chris Gunn

Though the Webb telescope will be enveloped in darkness, the engineers testing the telescope will be far from blind. "There are many thermal sensors that monitor temperatures of the telescope and the support equipment," said Gary Matthews, an integration and testing engineer at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, who is testing the Webb telescope while it is at Johnson. "Specialized camera systems track the physical position of the hardware inside the chamber, monitoring how Webb moves as it gets colder."


Chamber A's sealed, vault-like door towers over engineers at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Credits: NASA/Chris Gunn

In space, the telescope must be kept extremely cold, in order to be able to detect the infrared light from very faint, distant objects. To protect the telescope from external sources of light and heat (like the sun, Earth and moon), as well as from heat emitted by the observatory, a five-layer, tennis court-sized sunshield acts like a parasol that provides shade. The sunshield separates the observatory into a warm, sun-facing side (reaching temperatures close to 185 degrees Fahrenheit) and a cold side (400 degrees below zero). The sunshield blocks sunlight from interfering with the sensitive telescope instruments.

The James Webb Space Telescope is the scientific successor to NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. It will be the most powerful space telescope ever built. Webb is an international project led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and the Canadian Space Agency.

For more information about Chamber A, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/nasas-apollo-era-test-chamber-now-james-webb-space-telescope-ready

For more information about the Webb telescope visit: www.jwst.nasa.gov or www.nasa.gov/webb
 
By Eric Villard
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

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Last Updated: July 11, 2017
Editor: Rob Garner

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tnt22 пишет:
NASA Closes Chamber A Door to Commence Webb Telescope Testing

Mary Cerimele‏ @McRocketscience 11 июл.

Yes! Happened yesterday evening. Here it goes...

Video

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NASA Webb Telescope‏Подлинная учетная запись @NASAWebb 23 ч. назад

Our Webbcam (http://jwst.nasa.gov ) now contrasts #JWST test chamber temps with those at Houston's @NASA_Johnson! https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/nasa-s-webbcam-shows-webb-telescope-chilling-in-chamber-a ...

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Jeff Foust‏ @jeff_foust 1 ч. назад

It's the Kourou version of Thunderdome: two missions enter, but only one can leave on an Ariane 5 next October:
http://spacenews.com/spaceport-schedule-conflict-could-delay-jwst-launch/

http://spacenews.com/spaceport-schedule-conflict-could-delay-jwst-launch/

Spaceport schedule conflict could delay JWST launch
by Jeff Foust — August 1, 2017


The integrated telescope and instrument section of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope was moved into a vacuum chamber at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston for testing as part of preparations for a launch scheduled for October 2018. Credit: NASA

WASHINGTON — NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is facing a schedule conflict for its Ariane 5 launch with a European planetary science mission that could, in one scenario, delay the telescope's launch by several months.

Current plans call for the launch of JWST on an Ariane 5 from the spaceport at Kourou, French Guiana, in October 2018. The European Space Agency is providing the launch of JWST as its contribution for the mission, in exchange for a share of observing time on the telescope.

However, ESA is also planning an October 2018 launch of BepiColombo, its first mission to Mercury, in cooperation with the Japanese space agency JAXA. That mission will also use an Ariane 5 launching from Kourou.

Спойлер

At a meeting of the NASA Advisory Council's science committee July 24, Alan Boss, an astronomer at the Carnegie Institution and a member of the Astrophysics Advisory Committee, warned that BepiColombo could take precedence over JWST for that October 2018 launch slot.

"BepiColombo has rights to launch before James Webb does," he said in a summary of a meeting of that advisory committee earlier in the month.

Boss didn't elaborate on the reasons for that precedence, but BepiColombo, unlike JWST, has a narrow launch window in order to reach Mercury. ESA officials said earlier in July that the mission's current launch window opens Oct. 5 and runs through Nov. 28. JWST does not have similar launch window restrictions.

While the Ariane 5 is capable of flying at a relatively high cadence — three Ariane 5 rockets launched in May and June of this year — the extensive payload processing requirements of both BepiColombo and JWST appear to rule out launching both missions around the same time.

"It's unclear if BepiColombo will be out of the way" before JWST arrives at Kourou for launch preparations, Boss said. He believed JWST needed three to six months of "full access" to facilities at Kourou to prepare for launch. "You really want to have BepiColombo long gone before you move in and start taking over."

If BepiColombo sticks to its current schedule, that could mean delaying JWST by several months. "There's some concern that that October 2018 launch may actually slip into the spring of 2019," he said.

That schedule conflict is due in part to delays in the development of BepiColombo. The mission's launch has slipped several times in the last decade. In 2007, when ESA approved moving the mission into its development phase, it was expected to launch on a Soyuz rocket in 2013.

In 2011, ESA announced the mission would instead launch on a more powerful Ariane 5 in July 2014. The launch slipped in 2012 to August 2015, then later to July 2016, January 2017 and April 2018. Last November, ESA announced that the launch was now scheduled for October 2018 because of a problem with a power processing unit on the spacecraft.

Boss noted BepiColombo's delays in his presentation, suggesting that the mission could face additional delays. ESA officials, though, said at an event in early July that the spacecraft was on scheduled to ship to French Guiana in early 2018 to being final launch preparations.

"We are looking forward to completing the final tests this year, and shipping to Kourou on schedule," Ulrich Reininghaus, project manager for BepiColombo at ESA, said in a July 6 statement about the completion of the latest series of tests of the spacecraft. That statement added that the launch schedule for the mission would be confirmed later this year.

JWST has also suffered significant delays in its development, although it has maintained an October 2018 launch date since a re-plan of the mission several years ago. The telescope is currently in an Apollo-era thermal vacuum chamber at NASA's Johnson Space Center for testing, and will be shipped later this year to a Northrop Grumman facility in Southern California to be integrated to its spacecraft bus and sunshield.

JWST currently has about three and a half months of schedule reserve, an amount that has been gradually decreasing to account for development issues. That current level of schedule reserve is nearly a month below what the project's plan called for having at this stage in development, but still above recommended levels for projects set by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

Additional problems, however, could lead to delays in JWST regardless of any launch site conflicts.
"There's some concern that they might be running out of funded schedule reserve," Boss said, particularly as the project goes into critical final assembly and testing activities. "There's some concern, but the JWST folks are confident they will overcome the remaining hurdles and get it done on time."

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https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/sunshield-layers-fully-integrated-on-nasa-s-james-webb-space-telescope

Aug. 7, 2017

Sunshield Layers Fully Integrated on NASA's James Webb Space Telescope

The five sunshield layers responsible for protecting the optics and instruments of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope are now fully installed.

Northrop Grumman Corporation in Redondo Beach, California who designed the Webb telescope's optics and spacecraft bus for NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, integrated the final flight layers into the sunshield subsystem. The team is now folding and stowing the layers, in preparation for deployment tests in August.

Спойлер

The first layer of the Webb telescope sunshield installed at Northrop Grumman's clean room in Redondo Beach, California.
Credits: Northrop Grumman Corp.

The sunshield layers work together to reduce the temperatures between the hot and cold sides of the observatory by approximately 570 degrees Fahrenheit. Each successive layer of the sunshield, made of kapton, is cooler than the one below. All layers were installed and tested in June and July 2017 at Northrop Grumman Corporation's Space Park facility in Redondo Beach.


All 5 layers of the Webb telescope sunshield installed at Northrop Grumman's clean room in Redondo Beach, California. The five sunshield membrane layers are each as thin as a human hair.
Credits: Northrop Grumman Corp.

"This is a huge milestone for the Webb telescope as we prepare for launch," said Jim Flynn, Webb sunshield manager, Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems. "The groundbreaking tennis court sized sunshield will shield the optics from heat and assist in providing the imaging of the formation of stars and galaxies more than 13.5 billion years ago."

"All five sunshield membranes have been installed and will be folded over the next few weeks," said Paul Geithner, deputy project manager - technical for the Webb telescope at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

The Webb telescope's sunshield will prevent the background heat from the sun from interfering with the telescope's infrared sensors. The five sunshield membrane layers, designed and manufactured by the NeXolve Corporation in Huntsville, Alabama, are each as thin as a human hair. Because the sunshield is the size of a tennis court, it helps solidify the Webb telescope as the largest ever built for space. The sunshield, along with the rest of the spacecraft, will fold origami-style into an Ariane 5 rocket.

The Webb 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 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.

For more information about the Webb telescope, visit: www.nasa.gov/webb or www.jwst.nasa.gov


The sunshield layers work together to reduce the temperatures between the hot and cold sides of the observatory by approximately 570 degrees Fahrenheit. Each successive layer of the sunshield, which is made of Kapton, is cooler than the one below. The sunshield is in the clean room at Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems in Redondo Beach, California.
Credits: Northrop Grumman Corp.

Jessica Brown
Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, Redondo Beach, Calif.
Jessica.Brown2@ngc.com

Rob Gutro
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
301-286-4044
Robert.j.gutro@nasa.gov

[свернуть]

Last Updated: Aug. 7, 2017
Editor: Lynn Jenner

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Aligning the Primary Mirror Segments of the James Webb Space Telescope

NASA Goddard

Опубликовано: 20 сент. 2017 г.

Engineers at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston used light waves to align the James Webb Space Telescope's mirror segments to each other, so they act like a single, monolithic mirror in the cryogenic cold of the center's iconic Chamber A.

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Mike McClare

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZM3rnomT9iUhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZM3rnomT9iU (2:24)

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Susanne Auer‏ @AuerSusan 4 ч. назад

An interesting detail from the #Arianespace #IAC2017 presentation: #BepiColombo will launch 2018 #JWST one year later in 2019 #ESA #NASA

[tnt22]

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/engineers-warm-nasa-s-webb-telescope-as-end-of-cryogenic-testing-nears

Sept. 27, 2017

Engineers Warm NASA's Webb Telescope as End of Cryogenic Testing Nears

The temperature of Chamber A at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston has begun to rise, signaling the beginning of the end of James Webb Space Telescope's cryogenic testing.

On Sept. 27, engineers began to warm Chamber A to bring the Webb telescope back to room temperature — the last step before the chamber's massive, monolithic door unseals and Webb emerges in October. Everyone can watch the temperature ofChamber A rise during the next few weeks by checking out the temperature overlay on the online Webbcam. The overlay shows the temperature of the gaseous helium shroud, the innermost of two shrouds that were used to cool the telescope to cryogenic (extremely cold) temperatures. The two shrouds are thin, cylindrical, metal shells that envelope the telescope.

Спойлер

As Chamber A at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston begins to warm, everyone can watch the temperature rise on the Webbcam. The overlay on the Webbcam displays the temperature in degrees Fahrenheit, degrees Celsius, and on the Kelvin scale. The chamber temperature displayed is the average helium shroud temperature, and it is approximated based on chamber test parameters.
Credits: NASA/Steve Sabia
View the Webb cam.

"Engineers will perform the warming gradually ... to ensure the safety of the telescope, its science instruments, and the supporting equipment," said Randy Kimble, an integration and test project scientist for the Webb Telescope at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "Once the chamber and its contents are warmed to near room temperature, engineers will begin to pump gaseous nitrogen into [the chamber] until it is once again at one atmosphere of pressure (at sea level) and no longer a vacuum."

The engineers are using heaters to incrementally warm the inside of the chamber. In addition to this, they will warm the two enveloping shrouds, which previously had frigid cryogens (substances used to produce extremely cold temperatures) flowing through them.

In addition to the heaters, the engineers will gradually raise the temperature of the helium gas flowing through the innermostshroud. Carl Reis, the test director for Webb's cryogenic testing at Johnson, said the temperature of that shroud, which is the temperature displayed on the Webbcam overlay, will reach about 68 degrees Fahrenheit (about 20 degrees Celsius / 293 kelvins) before the Chamber A door opens. He added that the engineers will stop the flow of liquid nitrogen into the outermost shroud,allowing the liquid nitrogen already inside the shroud to "boil off" as it warms. Liquid nitrogen begins to evaporate at about minus 321 degrees Fahrenheit (about minus 196 degrees Celsius / 77 kelvins).

The team tested Webb in the airless cold of Chamber A because, in the vacuum of space, the telescope must be kept extremely cold in order to be able to detect the infrared light from very faint, distant objects. Warm objects emit infrared radiation, and any excess warmth could givefalse signals to the telescope. The cryogenic testing ensured all of Webb's components, including its science instruments and mirrors, worked as expected in a space-like environment.

Webb next journeys to Northrop Grumman in Redondo Beach, California, where it will be integrated with the spacecraft and sunshield, thus forming the completedobservatory. Once there, it will undergo more tests duringwhat is called "observatory-level testing." This testing is the last exposure to a simulated launch environment before flight and deployment testing on the whole observatory.

The James Webb Space Telescope, the scientific complement to NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, will be the most powerful space telescope ever built. Webb is an international project led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).

The URL for the Webbcam is: https://jwst.nasa.gov/webcam.html#cam2Large

For more information about Chamber A, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/nasas-apollo-era-test-chamber-now-james-webb-space-telescope-ready

For more information about the Webb telescope, visit: www.webb.nasa.gov or www.nasa.gov/webb​
 
By Eric Villard
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

[свернуть]

Last Updated: Sept. 27, 2017
Editor: Rob Garner