Jake is Excellent!

It is so nice when I have my observations of the world validated by outside "experts."  In this case, while I have always known that Jake is excellent (and brilliant, and handsom, and kind, and...) both NASA Goddard (Jake's customer) and Ball Aerospace (where Jake works) both are in complete agreement.

Last night we went to the Ball Aerospace Excellence Awards ceremony and were treated to a wonderful dinner where I showed off my new (more conservative) hairdo, and showed off my husband of almost 10 years, Jake.  The president of the company and Jake's managers and team-mates said wonderful things about him while presenting him with an Engineering Excellence Award.  Congratulations Jake!!

Excert from the customer at NASA Goddard:

On behalf of the James Webb Space Telescope Science Working Group, I am writing to thank the JWST mirror teams for their excellent progress towards launch. When serious project studies were started in 1996, there was a tremendous tension between the people who said these mirrors could never be built, and those who said they could do them. To achieve the results today, we held what amounts to an Olympic competition with studies, tests, reports, reviews, and finally hardware. We chose the beryllium technology in 2002, believing that success was possible but without of course knowing all the subtleties of beryllium manufacture, machining, stress relieving, polishing, thermal distortion, and cryogenic testing in the presence of vibration. Now we see success within our grasp, with mirror segments that meet and in several ways exceed specifications, ready to go on to the next parts of the program.


The Science Working Group received a report from Lee Feinberg on progress at our meeting on Feb. 18. They were so impressed that they asked me to write a letter of appreciation. They were shown that the mirror segments are very smooth, which clearly is essential to our ability to reach the scientific objectives of the mission.

When I inquired more deeply, I learned that the following specific achievements were behind this result. The teams have:

• Validated the JWST Cryo-Null Figuring Process,
• Developed a method to stabilize mirrors at cryo and generate an accurate cryogenic target map,
• Produced a PMSA assembly that meets a stringent surface figure requirement,
• Produced an ultra-light, cryo compatible optical mirror assembly shown to survive launch environments,
• Successfully polished the EDU to a condition that met all final figure requirements,
• Developed a method to disassemble and reassemble a mirror with less than 5nm rms figure error change, as needed to protect the actuation system from polishing and coating processes,
• Developed metrology to measure a mirror at Tinsley, BATC, and XRCF to repeatability of less than 5 nm rms,
• Developed a method to match all 18 segment radii of curvature at cryogenic temperature using a combination of actuation and polishing, and
• Developed a bonding and assembly method to limit deformations to a mirror surface.

It was impossible to be sure to recognize all of the team members who have worked to bring about these results, but we are well aware that some people have individually worked thousands of hours to achieve them, and some people who are not on our list below have also made essential contributions. Please extend our thanks to all the people who worked on these mirrors!

(Jake's name is specifically mentioned in the list!)

Sincerely,

John C. Mather
James Webb Space Telescope Senior Project Scientist