An Engineering History of the JWST Telescope
The James Webb Space Telescope Optical Telescope Element (OTE) is a deployed cryogenic telescope with a 6.5 meter diameter segmented primary mirror that aligns in space. This revolutionary telescope has been the work of over a 1000 engineers, technicians and scientists over the past 15 years and includes numerous technical innovations and first-of-a-kind achievements. This talk will look back in time at the amazing history of the telescope development including the technology, architecture, design, manufacturing, and integration and testing phases. This will include a description of the early years where three fast paced first-of-a-kind optical technologies were developed that helped enable the mission and explore how early architectural decisions played out during the recent test campaign. The presentation will walk through a visual history of the remarkable mirror development efforts, the innovative wavefront sensing and control demonstrations, and recount the intense last two years of integration and testing where the telescope underwent deployment testing, integration with the science instruments, vibration and acoustic testing, and optical testing at cryogenic temperatures at the Johnson Space Center - including through Hurricane Harvey. The talk will end by looking forward in time and discuss how the Webb telescope experience is informing our ability to build future telescopes.
