Webb Telescope: Engineered to Endure Micrometeoroid Impacts
Micrometeoroid strikes are an unavoidable aspect of operating any spacecraft, which routinely sustain many impacts over the course of long and productive science missions in space. Between May 23 and 25, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope sustained an impact to one of its primary mirror segments. After initial assessments, the team found the telescope is still performing at a level that exceeds all mission requirements despite a marginally detectable effect in the data.
Artemis II Engine Section Moves to Final Assembly
On May 24, the core stage production team moved the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket engine section for Artemis II to the core stage final integration area at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. While there, the engine section team is completing installation of the main propulsion systems, finishing integration of the electrical and avionics systems, and preparing for functional testing of the various systems.
I am Artemis: John Sayres
Growing up watching space shuttle missions, John Sayres knew from an early age that he wanted to work in aerospace. With original aspirations to do backflips in space, he realized during his college years at North Carolina State University that instead of going to space himself, he wanted to build rockets so that others could explore deep space.
NASA’s Lucy Mission Continues Solar Array Deployment Process
NASA’s Lucy mission team is in the midst of a multistage effort to further deploy the spacecraft’s unlatched solar array. On May 9, the team commanded the spacecraft to operate the array’s deployment motor using both the primary and back-up motor windings simultaneously to generate more torque. The motor operated as expected, further reeling in the lanyard that pulls the solar array open.
NASA’s Europa Clipper Mission Completes Main Body of the Spacecraft
The main body of NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft has been delivered to the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. Over the next two years there, engineers and technicians will finish assembling the craft by hand before testing it to make sure it can withstand the journey to Jupiter’s icy moon Europa.
For more information or to learn about other happenings at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, visit NASA Marshall. For past issues of the ICYMI newsletter, click here.