Space Grant Consortium - University of Wisconsin - Green Bay

should be performed at the JWST observatory level. This approach has validity; however
it moves the risk of failure to a future test. This deferral incurs the chance of failure, at a
point in the project that would be very costly. Consequently, the JWST OBA RD still has
the requirement that the FPAs be tested and qualified for flight. Strong evidence for
deferment is needed to warrant the waiver of these tests.
D. Risk Mitigation from Shock Heritage
The NIRSpec instrument has had its fair share of issues with shock certification.
The MSA has demonstrated that. The assessments of JPL and outside sources like the
Space Systems Division of ITT suggest that the FPAs of JWST are not shock susceptible.
The past uncertainty of shock levels and the risk of delaying the project with FPA failure
at the observatory level strongly suggests that NIRSpec and the entire ISIM need more
than analysis to defer testing. FPA heritage for shock can assure that shock testing of the
JWST detectors can be deferred based on previous structures’ similarity and the
comparison of their shock requirements. JWST is the first to use photonic detectors of
this precision for infrared astronomy in outer space. Future space telescopes and
missions with similar detectors could use this heritage as well for deferment assurance.
[18]
Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) Space Interferometry Mission (SIM) Lite Astrometric Observatory
Terrestrial Planet Finder (TPF) Darwin Mission Telescope (1 of 4)
Discussion
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