Alliant Techsystems announced Tuesday it has received a $65 million contract to provide more components and subsystems to Northrop Grumman for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.
The expanded contract makes ATK one of the largest sub-contractors for the spacecraft, with a backlog of work on the JWST extending to 2009.
ATK will provide graphite fiber structures that support the science instrument Optical Bench and the primary mirror. The company also will provide thermal testing for composite materials that must withstand temperatures down to nearly minus 460 degrees Fahrenheit.
The telescope, which will operate in the visible and near-infrared ranges of the electromagnetic spectrum, is scheduled to launch no earlier than June 2013.
The Webb is designed to search for the first galaxies that formed in the early universe, and peer through dust clouds to observe stars forming planetary systems.
The telescope’s 6.5 meter (21.3 foot) mirror will be protected by a sunshield the size of a tennis court. It will reside in an orbit about 1.5 million kilometers (1 million miles) from Earth.
