Jun 14 2013

From The Space Library

RELEASE: 13-184 - NASA'S WEBB TELESCOPE'S LAST BACKBONE COMPONENT COMPLETED --WASHINGTON -- Assembly of the backbone of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, the primary mirror backplane support structure, is a step closer to completion with the recent addition of the backplane support frame, a fixture that will be used to connect all the pieces of the telescope together. The backplane support frame will bring together Webb's center section and wings, secondary mirror support structure, aft optics system and integrated science instrument module. ATK of Magna, Utah, finished fabrication under the direction of the observatory's builder, Northrop Grumman Corp. The backplane support frame also will keep the light path aligned inside the telescope during science observations. Measuring 11.5 feet by 9.1 feet by 23.6 feet and weighing 1,102 pounds, it is the final segment needed to complete the primary mirror backplane support structure. This structure will support the observatory's weight during its launch from Earth and hold its18-piece, 21-foot-diameter primary mirror nearly motionless while Webb peers into deep space. ATK has begun final integration of the backplane support frame to the backplane center section, which it completed in April 2012 and two backplane wing assemblies, which it completed in March. Fabricating and assembling the backplane support frame of this size and stability is a significant technological step as it is one of the largest cryogenic composite structures ever built, said Lee Feinberg, James Webb Space Telescope optical telescope element manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The frame, which was built at room temperature but must operate at temperatures ranging from minus 406 degrees to minus 343 degrees Fahrenheit, will undergo extremely cold, or cryogenic, thermal testing at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. The backplane support frame and primary mirror backplane support structure will shrink as they cool down in space. The tests, exceeding the low temperatures the telescope's backbone will experience in space, are to verify the components will be the right size and operate correctly in space. The primary mirror backplane support structure consists of more than 10,000 parts, all designed, engineered and built by ATK. The support structure will measure about 24 feet tall, 19.5 feet wide and more than 11 feet deep when fully deployed, but weigh only 2,138 pounds with the wing assemblies, center section and backplane support frame attached. When the mission payload and instruments are installed, the fully populated support structure will support more than 7,300 pounds, more than three times its own weight. The primary mirror backplane support structure also will meet unprecedented thermal stability requirements to minimize heat distortion. While the telescope is operating at a range of extremely cold temperatures, from minus 406 degrees to minus 343 degrees Fahrenheit, the backplane must not vary more than 38 nanometers (approximately 1 one-thousandth the diameter of a human hair). The primary backplane support structure is made of lightweight graphite materials using and advanced fabrication techniques. The composite parts are connected with precision metallic fittings made of invar and titanium. The ATK team is providing program hardware that is arguably the largest and most advanced cryogenic structure ever built, said Bob Hellekson, ATK's Webb telescope program manager. The assembled primary backplane support structure and backplane support frame are scheduled for delivery to Marshall later this year for the extreme cryogenic thermal testing. They will undergo structural static testing at Northrop Grumman's facilities in Redondo Beach, Calif. in early 2014, and then be combined with the wing assemblies. The James Webb Space Telescope, the successor to NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, will be the most powerful space telescope ever built. It 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.

RELEASE: 13-186 - STUDENTS AND TEACHERS BECOME ROCKET SCIENTISTS AT NASA'S WALLOPS FLIGHT FACILITY --WASHINGTON -- More than 120 students and educators will delve into the world of rocket science June 15-21 during Rocket Week at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia's Eastern Shore. Activities during the week will include a RockOn! workshop for 50 university and community college-level participants, and the Wallops Rocket Academy for Teachers and Students (WRATS) for a high school audience. All attendees will participate in a sounding rocket launch scheduled between 5:30 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. EDT June 20. Rocket Week brings together students and teachers from across the country to experience first-hand the exciting world of rocketry, said Joyce Winterton, senior advisor for education and leadership development at Wallops. "For students, it provides them valuable experience to blend with academics for their future STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) careers. The educators gain valuable experience to expand their curriculum in the classroom and mentor students for STEM majors and careers." RockOn! Introduces participants to building small experiments that can be launched on suborbital sounding rockets. Now in its sixth year, the workshop is conducted in partnership with the Colorado and Virginia Space Grant Consortia. Working with NASA, we have developed a step approach to expand the skills needed for students to enter STEM careers, said Chris Koehler, director of the Colorado Space Grant Consortium. "RockOn! is the first step, followed by RockSat-C and then RockSat-X. Each step is technically more challenging than the previous one, allowing the students to expand the skills needed to support the aerospace industry." The RockOn! participants will build standardized experiments to be launched on a NASA Terrier-Improved Orion suborbital sounding rocket. The 35-foot-tall rocket is expected to fly to an altitude of about 75 miles. After launch and payload recovery, the participants will conduct preliminary data analysis and discuss their results. Nine custom-built Rocksat-C experiments, developed at universities that previously participated in a RockOn! Workshop, also will fly inside a payload canister on the rocket. About 50 students who designed and built the experiments will be attend Rocket Week. Also attending will be university participants in RockSat-X. They are previous Rocksat-C participants who will fly six custom-built experiments aboard a sounding rocket from Wallops in August. In the WRATS program, 20 high school teachers from Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and the District of Columbia will learn about the dynamics of rocketry and the science gained from suborbital sounding rockets to reinforce STEM concepts they teach in their classrooms. They also will attend the planned sounding rocket launch. These programs continue NASA's investment in the nation's education programs by supporting the goal of attracting and retaining students in STEM disciplines critical to the future of space exploration.

MEDIA ADVISORY: M13-096 - NASA INVITES MEDIA TO ASTEROID INITIATIVE INDUSTRY AND PARTNER DAY --WASHINGTON -- Deputy Administrator Lori Garver and other senior NASA officials will discuss the progress being made on NASA's mission to capture, redirect, and explore an asteroid June 18. They also will outline engagement opportunities for industry, international partners and the general public at the event, which will take place from 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. EDT in the James Webb Auditorium of NASA Headquarters at 300 E St. SW in Washington. In addition to Garver and Lightfoot, mission directorate associate administrators William Gerstenmaier, John Grunsfeld, and Michael Gazarik will give an overview of the work being done on NASA's asteroid mission. Jason Kessler, representing the agency's chief technologist, will talk about how NASA plans to increase partnerships and citizen science participation in NASA's effort to find and plan for all asteroid threats.