Status Report

NGST Project Weekly News Update 18 Jan 2002

By SpaceRef Editor

January 18, 2002

Filed under Goddard Space Flight Center, James Webb Space Telescope, US

Hi Folks,

A couple of things…

NASA has selected the micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS)
micro-shutter technology for further development and use in the Next
Generation Space Telescope (NGST) near-infrared spectrometer
international review board assessment in December of the technical
and programmatic progress and potential for successful follow-on
flight prototype development.

The NGST program was funding three studies exploring two MEMS
alternatives (micro-mirrors and micro-shutters) as devices for object
selection in a spectrometer. The review of these efforts concluded
that the mirco-shutters would provide the optimal contrast needed for
typical NGST spectroscopic programs (e.g., programs in the NGST
design reference mission; http://www.ngst.nasa.gov/science/drm.html).
The successful MEMS micro-shutter development is being lead by the
Goddard Space Flight Center (PI: S. H. Moseley).

The NIRSpec will be designed and built by the European Space Agency
instrument module. Roughly 18 months from now, ESA and NASA will
evaluate the progress of the mirco-shutter device and make a decision
whether to include this device in the NIRSpec. ESA is also studying a
non-MEMS alternative, should the micro-shutter device not materialize
in the appropriate time frame.

On other fronts, our local Assurance Management Office has reported
out the results of their Mission Definition Review (MDR), which was
held just prior to the MEMS review mentioned above. By and large,
they recommend that the project be given the go-ahead to move into
Phase B, assuming that we can work off about 10 issues of concern in
the coming month. But that’s not the end of the story. Discussions
continue with our Independent Review Board (IRT) prior to them
reporting out their initial confirmation assessment findings (from
the same set of briefings) to NASA Headquarters. More on this in the
coming weeks ahead. Staffing issues and budget preparations seemed to
occupy most of my waking hours this past week, however, along with
preparations for next week’s ESA and CSA Bilateral Meetings, to be
held here in Maryland. Overlaid on top of all this, on Tuesday our
new NASA Administrator, Sean O’Keefe, comes to Goddard for the first
time, and Dr.David Southwood from ESA comes in for a visit and
briefing on NGST on Thursday. Next week promises to be an interesting
one, both from an information gathering perspective as well as a
scheduling one!