Interview The team behind the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) just scored the Simon Ramo Medal, given by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) for exceptional achievement in systems engineering and systems science.
The award is well deserved, considering how the JWST – a project with contributors including NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) – turned out. After decades of work and rework, the observatory was launched on December 25, 2021, and reached its final destination a month later. The first images were made public a few months after that.
While medals cannot be minted for the thousands behind the observatory, Mike Menzel and Bill Ochs of NASA, along with Scott Willoughby of Northrop Grumman, are to receive the award. The Register spoke to Menzel and Willoughby about the trials and tribulations of bringing the JWST from mission concept to space.
The spacecraft was famously over budget and schedule. The problem was how to create an estimate for something that had never been done before. Menzel, NASA mission systems engineer, explains: "It's classic systems engineering iterations. You take a stab at it, you put the design on a piece of paper, and then you analyze it."
And analyze it. And then analyze it some more in search of failure modes as well as performance.
Having a clear goal helped, Willoughby says. "The purpose of the mission was clearly understood and was defined by scientists ... to be honest with you, you don't catch infrared light unless you put a telescope really far, far away from Earth, get it really cold and put a really big optic on it.
"So when you talk about the challenges of estimating what it's going to take, you know, it starts by aligning on the purpose, right? You know, what is this mission, and is it worth it?"
Menzel, who was chief engineer for the project, says: "The problem that we have is that James Webb was the first and only of its kind. When it comes to cost, you just do the best you can to do the estimates. But the truth be told, you're never going to find the real problems until you get deep into the design. That's just the way it is."
"I had to make sure that cost and schedule weren't compromising integrity," adds Menzel, who was the independent technical authority at NASA, responsible for ensuring the technical integrity of the project.
That sunshield was one where you're looking at it going, 'Man, that's never been done before.' And you know that one – that one kept me awake
Willoughby worked on the industry side for aerospace outfit Northrop Grumman and was often on the sharp end when it came to testing. However, both Willoughby and Menzel agreed that, despite the complexity surrounding the famous folding mirror and the instruments, the piece of the telescope that caused the most consternation was the sunshield – essential for keeping the infrared astronomy payload cold.
Menzel pays tribute to Northrop Grumman's expertise in large deployments but says: "That sunshield was one where you're looking at it going, 'Man, that's never been done before.' And you know that one – that one kept me awake.
"It's very much like a parachute. You can unfold it, refold it, unfold it, refold it, but it's only as good as the last fold. So as many times as you practice, you're always very happy when you see it deploy!"
Willoughby agrees. "Half of the single-point failures were in the sunshield." He tells us that out of the 178 release bolts used to secure the observatory, 107 were in the sunshield. And those bolts couldn't be released using explosives for fear of damaging the spacecraft and its electronics.
"Imagine you have a nut on a bolt, and you cut the nut in half, and then you put it back together with a piece of twine – in this case, a piece of metal – and you hold it together with a little fuse, so that when you want to release it you put current through that fuse, it burns, and then that coil expands, and then that falls apart, and then the bolt can fall out. You would hear when the nut separated, but you're just counting down – there were three weeks of absolute intensity."
Menzel says: "When you see that video of those layers being unfolded and they slide over each other like satin sheets on a bed, if you think that happens in zero-G like that, you're out of your mind!"
Willoughby and Menzel both acknowledge the contributions of the thousands of people who had worked for years to make the observatory a reality, including partners in ESA and CSA.
But could NASA ever do something like this again? The space agency could face severe cuts to its science budget in the coming years, and the commitment to a multibillion-dollar, decades-long project like the JWST might not be sustained.
Menzel, like much of NASA, is waiting for the new administrator to arrive and provide direction. "I can say this with sincerity. The people who work for NASA are all in this business because we love exploration.
"And I know this is going to sound like a cliché, kind of corny, but as long as there's a love for exploration and a desire to explore, NASA and its industry partners will always be able to repeat this and better this.
"The James Webb team just achieved a miracle. We got a telescope bigger than Mount Palomar [the observatory atop Mount Palomar, which is home to three active research telescopes] one million miles out in outer space and it's working beautifully.
I think to myself, Holy God, I'm part of a team that put a telescope in space bigger than Mount Palomar, four times farther away than the Moon
"I would rather take that design and evolve it for the next [mission] because I don't want a mission systems engineer sitting in my seat biting his nails, going, 'Jesus Christ. We've never launched anything like this. Is it going to work?' I would rather evolve what we know will work."
The pair are proud to represent the team for the award. Willoughby says: "When you get recognized at that level, you're like, 'Wow!' Systems engineering is a very appropriate medal; the title of it is what Webb embodied. Breaking big problems down to smaller ones, and then figuring out how to do those, verify those, and then build it back up into a bigger thing and know it works."
Menzel says: "In my case, I've been a child of the space age; I wanted to be an astronomer. And when I look back at my life, I think of how lucky I am to be a part of this team.
"And I think to myself, Holy God, I'm part of a team that put a telescope in space bigger than Mount Palomar, four times farther away than the Moon, and I was just proud to be a part of that team. And I think that all of us on the team realized that this is going to be historic.
"We had the rare opportunity to be at the right place, at the right time, to actually contribute to history. A lot of us knew our careers were going to be ended if it didn't work, and the majority of us just stuck with it. The majority of people on this job were there for two or three decades, and we launched knowing what it was going to mean to us if it failed, and not one of us flinched. I'm proud of the whole damn team." ®