Materials of the James Webb Space Telescope
Sponsored by Sigma Xi, a Science and Engineering Seminar Series
 

Michael Vernoy, PhD, Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems

The James Webb Space Telescope is NASA’s next flagship astrophysics observatory.  The Webb Telescope is being built to study multiple phases in cosmic evolution.  Among its goals is the study of the Universe’s first stars.   In order to image these faint and distant objects, Webb was optimized to observe in the infrared.  Observing in the infrared was the fundamental guiding principle in Webb’s design and influenced both the overall system architecture as well as its constituent materials.   This talk will discuss how Webb’s mission influenced material selection and how these selected materials were determined to be mission-compatible.

Dr. Michael Vernoy is the Parts, Materials, and Processes Manager for the James Webb Space Telescope at Northrop Grumman where he is responsible for the selection and test of materials, manufacturing processes, and electronic parts.  Mike joined Northrop Grumman in 2003 where he worked on multiple programs before joining the JWST team in 2005.  Mike received his AB in Physics from Occidental College and his doctorate from the University of California, Irvine.