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By Space Force
The third annual 2024 Department of the Air Force Modeling and Simulation Summit was held at the Grand Hyatt River Walk in San Antonio, Texas, May 7-9.
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By NASA
5 min read
NASA’s Webb Telescope Improves Simulation Software
The James Webb Space Telescope captures a tightly bound pair of actively forming stars, known as Herbig-Haro 46/47, in high-resolution near-infrared light. The James Webb Space Telescope truly explores the unknown, displaying stunning images of previously unseen corners of the universe only possible because of the telescope’s 21-foot segmented mirror that unfurled and assembled itself in space.
Decades of testing went into the materials, design, and processes needed to develop the largest telescope in space. However, the whole project was too complex to test on the ground, at scale, at minus 400 degrees Fahrenheit, and in other space-like conditions.
Instead, engineers relied on software simulations to understand how the telescope would behave under different in-space conditions, and that work has helped advance the whole field of integrated computer modeling.
The Ansys Zemax OpticStudio software package, pictured here in a demo of James Webb Space Telescope mirror modeling, was equipped with new capabilities and features as a result of being used in the observatory’s development. Ansys Inc. “We pushed everything, all the simulation, just as hard as it would go,” said Erin Elliott, an optical engineer at Ansys, Inc., which makes Ansys Zemax OpticStudio, one of the design software suites used to develop hardware and software for the Webb telescope.
Simulation technology has improved dramatically over the last two decades because of increases in computing power and new ways of accessing offsite computing power as a cloud service. But additional improvements trace back directly to Webb’s development.
Elliott used OpticStudio to support the Webb telescope while working for other NASA contractors, beginning in the early 2000s, before starting work in 2015 for Zemax ¬– which later became Ansys Zemax ¬– headquartered in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania.
In the early days, Elliott said, Zemax tweaked its software for the Webb telescope effort. “They made some specific changes for us at the time having to do with handling the coordinate systems of the segments,” she said, referring to the 18 hexagonal segments that make up the telescope’s primary mirror.
Elliott also recalled talking to Zemax leadership numerous times about the need for the software to communicate better with other Microsoft Windows programs. The company introduced an API, or application programming interface, for OpticStudio, which enables the suite to work with other programs and allows for further customization. There were plenty of reasons to add that technology but Webb demands were likely significant among them, Elliott said.
An engineer examines the Webb telescope primary mirror Engineering Design Unit segment in the clean room at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. NASA Joseph Howard, an optical engineer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, where Webb and its science instrument module were assembled, noted that using several modeling packages helped drive innovation in the field. “It’s important to have multiple software companies out there that can help you not only for cross-checking the modeling, but because they make each other better through competition,” he said.
In addition to improvements made to OpticStudio during Webb telescope development, Ansys Zemax in 2021 introduced the Structural, Thermal, Analysis, and Results (STAR) module, which benefited from the knowledge Elliott gained working on the NASA project.
The first six flight-ready James Webb Space Telescope primary mirror segments are prepped to begin final cryogenic testing at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.NASA When a mirror or lens changes shape due to temperature swings, the optics move. Much of the OpticStudio modeling was completed in smaller pieces — engineers would run a thermal simulation independently and add that data to the next optical model, generating more data for the next run.
The STAR module incorporates analyses from other simulation software directly into OpticStudio optical models — an efficiency applicable to telescope and aerospace designs. This feature is also increasingly important for autonomous vehicles, cell phone lenses, and other optics working in tough environments.
Future telescopes and other spacecraft are likely to involve elements of the Webb design. More will travel in segments that must self-assemble in space, and the development of the increasingly complicated robotics and optics will rely on improved modeling software.
“When we built Webb, we knew we couldn’t fully test it on the ground prior to flight, so we depended a whole lot upon modeling and doing analysis to get ready for flight,” Howard said. “The next great observatory will be even more dependent on modeling software.”
Meanwhile, designers of more earthly technologies are already seeing the benefits of an improved OpticStudio, using it to design precision endoscopes, a thermal imager to detect COVID-19 exposures in a crowd, augmented reality displays and headsets, a laser thruster technology for nanosatellites, and, of course, more telescopes.
Elliott also noted that the Webb telescope project trained the next cohort of telescope and optical device builders – those designing and using the telescope’s technological spinoffs.
“The people who built the Hubble Space Telescope were leading the Webb Telescope,” she said. “And now the younger engineers who cut our teeth on this project and learned from it are becoming the group of people who will build the next structures.”
Elliott maintains that the project “was worth it alone for training this huge cohort of young engineers and releasing them into high-tech fields.”
NASA has a long history of transferring technology to the private sector. The agency’s Spinoff publication profiles NASA technologies that have transformed into commercial products and services, demonstrating the broader benefits of America’s investment in its space program. Spinoff is a publication of the Technology Transfer program in NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD).
For more information on how NASA brings space technology down to Earth, visit:
www.spinoff.nasa.gov
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Last Updated Oct 31, 2023 Editor Loura Hall Contact Ann M. Harkeyann.m.harkey@nasa.gov Related Terms
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By NASA
The first crew to take part in a yearlong NASA Mars analog mission reached a milestone of 100 days inside the 1,700-square-foot habitat on October 3.
The four person, volunteer crew entered the CHAPEA (Crew Health and Performance Exploration Analog) habitat at NASA’s Johnson Space center in Houston on June 25 to begin a 378-day Mars surface simulation.
Throughout their mission, the crew is carrying out different types of mission activities future astronauts will take part in during a human Mars mission, including simulated spacewalks, robotic operations, habitat maintenance, personal hygiene, exercise, and crop growth.
While the CHAPEA crew is also simulating Mars-realistic communication delay of up to 22-minutes one-way, they have periodically captured and shared images of their experience.
Nathan Jones, CHAPEA mission 1 medical officer, gives Anca Selariu, CHAPEA mission 1 science officer, the first haircut inside the simulated Mars habitat.NASA/CHAPEA crew Nathan Jones participates in a simulated “Marswalk” inside the 1,200 square foot sandbox, which is connected to the habitat through an airlock.NASA/CHAPEA crew CHAPEA crew members Ross Brockwell and Anca Selariu complete geology work using the glovebox inside the habitat.NASA/CHAPEA crew NASA is leading a return to the Moon for long-term science and exploration. Through Artemis missions, NASA will land the first woman and first person of color on the Moon, using innovative technologies to explore more of the lunar surface than ever before. Lessons learned on and around the Moon and activities like CHAPEA on the ground will prepare NASA for the next giant leap: sending astronauts to Mars.
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Article 3 months ago View the full article
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By Space Force
Department of the Air Force Chief Model and Simulation Officer Richard Tempalski partnered with the Space Force’s Chief Technology and Innovation Officer Dr. Lisa Costa to host its second annual Modeling and Simulation Summit May 9-11 at the Clyde Hotel in Albuquerque, New Mexico, May 9-11. The M&S Summit puts into action guidance laid out in DAF strategy on implementing best practices for how models and simulations are effectively acquired, developed, managed and used by Department of Defense components. In alignment with the National Defense Strategy, the event brought together subject matter experts from across the department’s M&S community. Sessions at the conference focused on the theme, “Fusing Air and Space into Multidomain Operations: The Fight is On.” The three-day summit focused on the following topics: • Transformational M&S Enablers; • M&S Enabling Resilient Space Capabilities; • M&S Integrating Space Capabilities into Multi-Domain Operations The event attracted close to 600 participants from the Department of Defense industry, academia and international partners. Of the M&S Summit attendees, 61 participants represented the Space Force. Space Force attendees included personnel from all its field commands, the Space Warfighting Analysis Center, National Air and Space Intelligence Center and Air Force Research Laboratory.
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By Space Force
Department of the Air Force Chief Model and Simulation Officer Richard Tempalski partnered with the Space Force’s Chief Technology and Innovation Officer Dr. Lisa Costa to host its second annual Modeling and Simulation Summit at the Clyde Hotel in Albuquerque, New Mexico, May 9-11. The M&S Summit puts into action guidance laid out in DAF strategy on implementing best practices for how models and simulations are effectively acquired, developed, managed and used by Department of Defense components. In alignment with the National Defense Strategy, the event brought together subject matter experts from across the department’s M&S community. Sessions at the conference focused on the theme, “Fusing Air and Space into Multidomain Operations: The Fight is On.” The three-day summit focused on the following topics: • Transformational M&S Enablers; • M&S Enabling Resilient Space Capabilities; • M&S Integrating Space Capabilities into Multi-Domain Operations The event attracted close to 600 participants from the Department of Defense industry, academia and international partners. Of the M&S Summit attendees, 61 participants represented the Space Force. Space Force attendees included personnel from all its field commands, the Space Warfighting Analysis Center, National Air and Space Intelligence Center and Air Force Research Laboratory.
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