Cloud native EDA tools & pre-optimized hardware platforms
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a very large, complex, challenging mission, and the 草榴社区 optical engineering team has been privileged to be a member of the JWST Product Integrity Team throughout this demanding project. Launch is scheduled for December 25.
December 25th may become known as the day the universe changed. On that day, NASA expects to launch the James Webb Space Telescope, the largest and most expensive instrument ever flown. One hundred times more powerful than the 31-year-old Hubble Telescope, Webb can see back in time all the way to the “let there be light” moment—that instant when a cold, dark universe ignited into stars.1
The JWST was specifically designed to allow us to see the very first galaxies that formed after the Big Bang. Galaxies are born and then they evolve and change over time, and the way that galaxies change must rely critically on dark matter. James Webb is going to allow us to observe that process of galaxy evolution in more detail than ever before.2
It’s intended to answer two big questions in astrophysics: where did we come from, and are we alone? Our hope is that, just maybe, with the JWST, we’ll finally start to see the light!
There are many profound questions that the JWST will help us answer:
The answers have the potential to forever change our understanding of the universe and, in complex ways, our understanding of ourselves! Three Near IR instruments and one Mid IR Instrument on board the JWST will help answer these questions:
The development of these instruments resulted in numerous new technologies and techniques, including (chronologically): New Near IR Detectors, Sunshield Materials, Primary Mirror Segment Assemblies, Mid IR Detectors, Cryo ASICs, Microshutter Arrays, Heat Switches, Large Precision Cryogenic Structures, Wavefront Sensing and Control, Cryocoolers, High Speed Interferometry, Test Planning Software, and Mirror Cleaning.
The images below are taken from “” webinar recording.
The following photographs show various stages of the JWST build process:
What happens after the launch?
As we have mentioned previously in this blog, NASA has done great work fielding the Great Observatories, and 草榴社区 has been privileged to participate heavily in this work, including the JWST, providing both optical software and Optical Systems Engineering. “Hats off” to NASA and all supporting contractors, who are the stars of the show; they have done amazing work for two decades, and through COVID-19, to get us to today.
To learn more about the JWST, please see:
Footnotes:
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