SESDA Staff Help NASA Look to the Stars
June 5, 2014
SESDA staff contributed to developing and testing the Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec), one of four instruments that make up the Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM) on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The 1.4 metric ton ISIM is the science instrument payload of the JWST and will help make the JWST the most powerful space telescope ever built. The NIRSpec was installed on the ISIM in April, which means that all instruments making up the ISIM have been integrated.
The NIRSpec instrument will capture light from up to 100 space objects simultaneously and separate the light into its component spectral lines. A key component of the NIRSpec is the microshutter array (MSA), which, along with the Focal Plane Assembly, was developed at Goddard Space Flight Center with support from SESDA scientists. The MSA is what allows the NIRSpec to record individual spectra. Each MSA is a grid of approximately 250,000 tiny doors that can be individually commanded to be closed or opened to allow light to pass through; the NIRSpec camera includes four MSAs. By analyzing these discrete spectral signatures, scientists can derive a wealth of information about an object, such as its chemical composition, mass, distance, velocity, and temperature.
The ISIM consists of four science instruments: The Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), the Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS), and the NIRSpec. NASA image.
Additional SESDA staff are joining the ISIM team to support space simulation tests of the complete ISIM in Goddard’s Space Environment Simulator. These tests are designed to see how the ISIM instruments behave in the cold and vacuum of space, and will be followed with a series of “room temperature” tests to simulate the ISIM’s ride into space aboard an Ariane V rocket. Assuming these tests are successful, the ISIM will be delivered for mating with the telescope element in October 2015. The JWST is scheduled for a 2018 launch.
For more information about the JWST mission, visit: www.jwst.nasa.gov or www.nasa.gov/webb.
