REDONDO BEACH, Calif.,
April 14, 2015 /PRNewswire/
-- Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) reached another
major milestone for NASA's James Webb Space Telescope this week,
with the delivery of the Deployable Tower Assembly (DTA). Following
successful ambient and thermal vacuum testing, the DTA was
delivered to Northrop Grumman's Space Park facility, where the Webb
Telescope is being assembled. The graphite DTA was designed, built
and tested by Astro Aerospace, a Northrop Grumman company.
A photo accompanying this release is available at:
http://media.globenewswire.com/noc/mediagallery.html?pkgid=32110.
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is made up of four major
components — the telescope, the integrated science instrument
module, the sunshield and the spacecraft. The DTA interfaces and
supports the spacecraft and the telescope structures, and serves
two key functions on Webb.
"First, in the stowed configuration, the DTA allows the
telescope and instruments to fit into the rocket fairing with an
acceptable center of gravity for launch. Second, in the deployed
configuration, it will lift the telescope mirrors and instruments
away from the heat of the main spacecraft. This allows the
sunshield to unfurl, reducing the amount of radiant heat the
instruments are exposed to on orbit," said Ken Aiello, Astro Aerospace cost account manager
for Webb and program manager of the DTA.
Webb's DTA features two large diameter telescoping tubes,
separated by a mechanized lead screw. The majority of the DTA is
constructed of graphite components to ensure stability and strength
with extreme changes in cryogenic temperature. When fully deployed,
the DTA reaches ten feet in length.
"The Astro DTA team expertly completed this complex project,
which required a deployable structure that is both very light and
extremely strong and stable," said Scott
Texter, Webb optical telescope element manager, Northrop
Grumman.
The James Webb Space 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 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. Northrop Grumman is
under contract to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in
Greenbelt, Maryland, for the
design and development of the Webb Telescope's optics, sunshield
and spacecraft. For more information, visit www.jwst.nasa.gov.
Since 1958, Astro Aerospace (www.northropgrumman.com/astro) has
helped enable complex missions to Earth orbit, Mars and beyond with
its innovative deployable space structures and mechanisms. The
business unit's products have been successfully deployed on
hundreds of space flights with a 100 percent success rate, a
testament to Northrop Grumman's commitment to reliability, quality
and affordability.
Northrop Grumman is a leading global security company providing
innovative systems, products and solutions in unmanned systems,
cyber, C4ISR, and logistics and modernization to government and
commercial customers worldwide. Please visit
www.northropgrumman.com for more information.
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SOURCE Northrop Grumman Corporation