Webb telescope has it 'made in the shade' - Easy Reader

After 19 years of design and construction at Northrop Grumman in Redondo Beach, the Webb Space Telescope sunshields unfolded in space, just as intended.

At a NASA press briefing that day, Vince Heeg, Northrop Grumman Deputy Program Manager, listened to questions about how difficult this really was, since it went so smoothly8

“But it is a tribute to the technicians and engineers who last touched the satellite at (Redondo Beach)?

“We had issues on each test that we had to work on,” said Jeff Cheezum, Northrop Grumman Responsible Design Engineer, Vehicle Engineering.

“All the handwringing and sleepless nights on the ground led to a wonderful 16 days,” said Scott Willoughby, Northrop Grumman Webb Program Manager, on the day of completion.

Design Engineer Jeff Cheezum in front of Clean Room M-8 at Northrop Grumman, where the Webb sunshields were assembled.

During the telescope’s ascent – first packed inside the cone of a rocket then detached in space to fly on by itself – work continued in Redondo Beach. .

In Clean Room M-8 at Northrop Grumman, a team of 15 vehicle engine support engineers and 10 technicians mimicked each step of deployment in real-time on a Webb model, built as a template from 2009-14.

If a sensor on the Webb showed a certain spot was too warm, it could mean that a small opening was blocked, Where the blockage was might be determined using the Clean Room model.

“The most exciting part was following along, knowing that all the flight hardware we worked on for so long was working,” Cheezum said.

It belongs to NASA,” Cheezum said.

“The fact that it looked easy is because we did all the right things leading up to it,” said Bill Ochs, NASA Webb telescope project manager.

by Easy Reader Newspaper - 1 month ago

by Kumon of Redondo Beach South - 1 year ago

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