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Optical Engineering / Volume 51 / Issue 1 / Special Section on Space Telescopes

James Webb Space Telescope: large deployable cryogenic telescope in space

Opt. Eng. 51, 011003 (Feb 03, 2012); http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/1.OE.51.1.011003

Paul A. Lightsey

Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., P. O. Box 1062, Boulder, Colorado 80306

Charles Atkinson

Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, One Space Park, Redondo Beach, California 90278

Mark Clampin and Lee D. Feinberg

NASA, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland 20771

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is an infrared space telescope designed to explore four major science themes: first light and reionization, the assembly of galaxies, the birth of stars and protoplanetary systems, and planetary systems and origins of life. JWST is a segmented architecture telescope with an aperture of 6.6 m. It will operate at cryogenic temperature (40 K), achieved via passive cooling, in an orbit about the Earth-Sun second Lagrange point (L2). Passive cooling is facilitated by means of a large sunshield that provides thermal isolation and protection from direct illumination from the Sun. The large size of the telescope and spacecraft systems require that they are stowed for launch in a configuration that fits the Ariane 5 fairing, and then deployed after launch. Routine wavefront sensing and control measurements are used to achieve phasing of the segmented primary mirror and initial alignment of the telescope. A suite of instruments will provide the capability to observe over a spectral range from 0.6- to 27-μm wavelengths with imaging and spectroscopic configurations. An overview is presented of the architecture and selected optical design features of JWST are described.

© 2012 Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers

History
Received Jun 30, 2011
Accepted Sep 26, 2011
Revised Sep 17, 2011
Published online Feb 03, 2012
Digital Object Identifier
http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/1.OE.51.1.011003
Citation
Paul A. Lightsey, Charles Atkinson, Mark Clampin and Lee D. Feinberg, "James Webb Space Telescope: large deployable cryogenic telescope in space", Opt. Eng. 51, 011003 (Feb 03, 2012); http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/1.OE.51.1.011003

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