Aerospace Engineering Seminar

This talk introduces the James Webb Space Telescope, NASA's next large astrophysics mission. Webb's science goals are presented and the flow of these science objectives into mission requirements and design is discussed. The main engineering challenges for the largest telescope in space are explored. The current status of the hardware and path to launch late next year will be given. The talk concludes with a few of the speaker's top lessons learned from over 30 years as a working engineer. Jonathan Arenberg's work experience includes optical, space and laser systems. He has had long tenures on astronomical programs such as the Chandra X-ray Observatory, initial development of the starshade and the James Webb Space Telescope. In addition to his work on astronomical systems, he has contributed to major high-energy and tactical laser systems, laser component engineering, metrology, optical inspection and technology development projects.  Dr. Arenberg holds a BS in physics and an MS and PhD in engineering, all from the University of California, Los Angeles.  He is the author of over 160 conference presentations, papers and book chapters and holds 1 European and 11 U.S. Patents in a wide variety of areas of technology. He is the co-author of a forthcoming book on systems engineering for astronomical systems from SPIE press.  Dr. Arenberg is currently the Chief Engineer for the James Webb Space Telescope and Space Science Missions at Northrop Grumman and an SPIE Fellow.