Sweet Update on the James Webb Space Telescope

• By Maggie Masetti
• April 21, 2016
• Comments Off on Sweet Update on the James Webb Space Telescope

We gave you all an update on the progress of the James Webb Space Telescope mirror assembly not long ago. But there have also been exciting updates on JWST’s flight instruments as well. They just haven’t been as easily visible, because the excitement was happening deep in belly of NASA Goddard’s largest vacuum chamber. For several months this winter, the Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM) was undergoing its 3rd round of cryogenic testing, a test known as Cryo Vac-3, or CV-3. This process took a long time because the vacuum chamber takes a while to cool down (the instruments mainly operate somewhere below 50 Kelvin, with the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) operating at an even colder 7 K) – then there are tests to run, and after those are complete, the chamber has to be warmed up again. After all was said and successfully done, the instruments were lifted out of the chamber by crane, and then moved back into the cleanroom to await integration with the rest of the telescope. This is the next piece of JWST’s construction, and it’s due to happen this spring. Once that is done, we’ll have a complete telescope – if not a complete spacecraft – still lots to do on that front! (And lots more testing!)

Here are a series of photos of the ISIM coming out of the cryo vac chamber captured by DJ Emmanuel, one of our fabulous Visitor Center tour guides. (Thanks, DJ!)

You can read more about this major project milestone in this NASA feature.

You can also watch this video snapshot:

Now we get to the “sweet” part of the update! David Wright, the JWST MIRI System Engineer, sent me these photos of a JWST cake his daughter, Sarah, made for their team during the months of shift work supporting the cryo test. (Did I mention that this amazing team worked ’round the clock, and was even snowed in for a couple of days? Their dedication is awesome.)

Here is how David described the cake. “I can tell you it had a difficult ‘development program.’ It was made from gingerbread, covered in sweets and it had a few structural failures during its construction. Firstly it suffered from ‘sweet creep’ at room temperature, then failed in cryo (in the fridge). Sarah then had to make a late design change to JWST to add a small fork behind it’s fold-out wing to supplement it’s primary load path. After delivery the next problem was that no-one on shift during CV-3 wanted to be the first person to start eating it, so it was left to me to break off one wing. It tasted very nice!” (Thanks, David and Sarah!)

The James Webb Cake Telescope

James Webb Cake Telescope. Credit: Nick Bond