Presenter: Mike Menzel, Mission Systems Engineer, James Webb Space Telescope, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.  MIT Physics B.S. ‘81

Abstact: 

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), on schedule to launch in 2021, will be NASA’s successor mission to the Hubble Space Telescope.  JWST has been designed and developed to observe “first light” objects in the nascent universe, the evolution of galaxies over cosmic history, star birth within our own galaxy, planet formation and evolution both in our solar system and in solar systems around other stars and to make observations of the  recently exoplanets.  The JWST telescope will have an aperture greater than 6 meters in diameter, and along with its compliment of science instruments must be cooled to cryogenic temperatures below 50K.  It will be operated at the Sun-Earth L2 point to keep thermal sources such as the Sun and Earth in the same general direction so that their radiation can be shielded by a “tennis court sized” sunshield, allowing the payload to attain these temperatures passively. This presentation will give an overview of the JWST science and systems design from the perspective of the NASA Mission Systems Engineer.  The presentation will describe some of the key engineering challenges the Project has addressed to produce this “first of its kind” mission.

Bio:

Michael Menzel has 39 years of experience in the aerospace, working 23 years in industry for commercial and defense missions and for NASA for the past 16 years.  He is currently the Mission Systems Engineer for the James Webb Space Telescope. Mr. Menzel received a B.S. in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1981 and an M.S. in Physics from Columbia University in 1986.

Zoom information: https://mit.zoom.us/j/95934900225