Abstract of Main Presentation:
The James Web Telescope is the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope.
It’s mission is to observe the early universe, the assembly of the
galaxies, the birth of stars, planetary systems and the origin of life.
It will perform it’s mission at Lagrange point L2, far be-yond the
reach of current servicing capabilities. This means the on-station performance
of the observatory must be verified on earth. The telescope uses a 6.5 meter
deployable mirror, so the very large dimensions (and the acceleration of
gravity) pose extreme difficul-ties to testing and alignment operations
performed on Earth.
The BSTA test article is a portion of the JWST structure that was fabricated
and tested to verify our ability to analytically model the out-of-plane
thermal distortion of the metering structure. Our objective was to achieve
a Technology Readi-ness Level of TRL-6, demonstrating the performance of
the metering structure in a relevant environment. The test was performed
at Marshall Space Flight Center in their XRCF fa-cility at test temperatures
ranging from 25 to 105 Kelvin. The test and supporting structural and optical
analyses achieved all objectives, leading to a successful Preliminary Design
Re-view for the entire Backplane.
Biography:
Mr. Bluth works for Alliant Techsystems. He has 27 years experience in the
design, analysis, and insertion of composites into aerospace and other advanced
applications. His background includes ablative composite nozzle design and
analysis for solid propellant strategic missile systems, high performance
carbon-carbon structures, process qualification of the first auto-mated
fiber placed fighter jet all-composite inlet ducts, and high performance
precision compos-ite structures for spacecraft applications. Mr. Bluth recently
received a JWST Program Significant Contributor Award for his leadership
and contribution to the nanometer class stability performance of the large
all-composite primary mirror support structure. Mr. Bluth has BSME and MSME
degrees from the University of Utah.
