The James Webb Space Telescope Experience: A Lifecycle Approach To Ground Support Equipment

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), represents a significant undertaking in the study of the early formation of galaxies. Dubbed "NASA's Cosmology Time Machine", JWST is scheduled to launch in 2013. One area Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) has responsibility for is the Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM) element of JWST, which will integrate the four infrared Science Instruments (Sis) that are currently under development. This represents a considerable challenge, since the various instrument development teams (IDTs) are geographically located in various facilities across the United States, in Europe, and in Canada. A fundamental issue is to manage the risk associated with coordinating the development of the Sis and their associated engineering products with the eventual integration of these independently developed components into ISIM. To this end, the ISIM Team at GSFC has developed a strategy for providing the IDTs with a common set of ground support equipment (GSE) to facilitate their development efforts. This commonality enables the various IDTs to effortlessly share engineering products within the limits imposed by non-technical (i.e., security) constraints.