Managing Risk for the James Webb Space Telescope Deployment Mechanisms: Enabling First Light

SUMMARY and CONCLUSIONThis paper provides insight into a series of innovative risk and reliability mitigation measures developed and implemented during the Integration and Test (I&T) of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) that proved essential to the flawless deployment and successful commissioning of the observatory.The $10 billion JWST is perhaps the most ambitious astronomy mission in NASA and its international partners history and is the largest and most powerful space science telescope optimized for infrared detection. It is operating in an L2 orbit about a million miles away from the earth. It relayed the first amazing picture of galaxies to the world on 12 July 2022.This complex science mission was developed over a period of approximately 20 years after numerous technical challenges encountered during Integration and Testing (I&T) through 2018-19 that resulted in significant cost overruns and schedule delays [5], [6]. The complete success of JWST hinged on the successful deployment of sunshield and primary mirror assemblies after launch, precursors to the next phase of mirror alignments and mission operations. Deployment used complex set of mechanisms that included 344 Single Point Failure (SPF) items involving 178 Non-Explosive Actuators (NEA).An Integrated Systems enhanced Critical Items Control Plan (eCICP) Verification and Validation (V&V) approach was developed in 2019 and implemented to address the highest risk SPFs, with extraordinary human vigilance and due diligence for the success of JWST [7], [8], [9], [13]. Finally, the telescope was launched on 25 Dec 2021, and fully commissioned on 12 Jul 2022, accomplishing 100% mission success. JWST launch and deployments were so successful that Webb is currently operating above expectations and has a fuel to operate for nearly 20 years on-orbit operation.The Complexity of JWST [ Figure 1 ] and its deployment can be seen in a YouTube link from NASA-GSFC posted in 2018: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qysBZZjqTJM