Northrop Grumman's Timothy Martin Recognized with NASA's Robert H. Goddard Exceptional Achievement Award for Engineering
June 13 2016 - 12:30PM
Timothy Martin, director of engineering for Northrop Grumman
Corporation's (NYSE:NOC) Aerospace Systems sector was recognized
with the Robert H. Goddard Exceptional Achievement Award for
Engineering by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. The award was in
recognition of Martin's work on NASA's James Webb Space Telescope
(JWST).
A photo accompanying this release is available at:
http://media.globenewswire.com/noc/mediagallery.html?pkgid=40556
Northrop Grumman is under contract to NASA's Goddard Space
Flight Center for JWST and leads the industry team that designs and
develops the telescope, its sunshield and spacecraft. The company
has completed the integration, testing and delivery of the
telescope. Northrop Grumman has a separate contract with NASA's Jet
Propulsion Lab for the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) Cryocooler,
which keeps sensitive instruments at the low temperatures they need
to operate.
Martin was selected for the award for his technical expertise
and leadership of the team that completed the development, testing
and delivery of the Webb telescope's MIRI Cryocooler.
MIRI houses a camera and spectrograph, allowing the Webb
telescope to view distant objects via infrared light. MIRI's camera
will provide wide-field imaging that will continue and extend to
Webb, the breathtaking astrophotography that has made NASA's Hubble
Space Telescope so universally admired. Additionally, MIRI's
spectrograph will provide new physical insights on nearby stars and
their planetary systems. In order to see in the infrared
wavelength, this instrument must operate at temperatures as low as
-447 F. The imperative component, responsible for ensuring the
stabilization and operation at such low temperatures is the
cryocooler, built by Northrop Grumman.
With more than 20 years of experience developing cryocooler
technology, Northrop Grumman has produced and delivered over 35
space-qualified cooler systems to date, more than the rest of U.S.
industry combined. Designed to operate more than 10 years with
unchanged performance, Northrop Grumman coolers have accumulated
more than 100 years of on-orbit performance without failure.
Cryocoolers are usually not much larger than a standard size
notebook, but the uniqueness of the MIRI Cryocooler is that it
stretches across 30 feet of an observatory with a deployable
portion of the structure. A deployable design that stretches across
this span at temperatures as low 6 kelvin (or -449 F) has never
been accomplished before in the cryocooler field. Furthermore, most
cryocoolers stop cooling after 10 years, but this cryocooler is
designed to keep cooling the MIRI instrument well beyond 10
years.
"Tim Martin brought strong leadership and a dedicated commitment
to the mission of the James Webb Space Telescope resulting in the
MIRI Cryocooler being successfully delivered for integration on the
satellite," said Jeff Grant, vice president and general manager,
space systems division, Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems. "Martin
joined the MIRI team in 2014 as the program manager for the MIRI
Cryocooler and led the successful design, integration and test
activities with teammates at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, NASA
Goddard and NASA headquarters."
"Leading a team of stellar individuals, diligently working to
ensure the efficient and effective operation of the world's largest
telescope ever built for space has been the experience of a
lifetime," said Martin. "While I am immensely honored and humbled
to receive this award, words cannot express the appreciation I have
for our entire team."
Martin and his team successfully completed the development,
fabrication, integration, testing and delivery of the cryocooler to
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) last year, where it has been
undergoing cryogenic tests. This June, JPL delivered the cryocooler
back to Northrop Grumman's Space Park Facility in Redondo Beach.
This is where the MIRI Cryocooler will be integrated with the Webb
telescope's spacecraft, also developed, manufactured and tested by
Northrop Grumman at Space Park.
The James Webb Space Telescope is the world's next-generation
space observatory and successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. The
largest and most powerful space telescope ever built, the Webb
telescope will observe the most distant objects in the universe,
provide images of the first galaxies formed and see unexplored
planets around distant stars. The Webb telescope is a joint project
of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space
Agency.
Northrop Grumman is a leading global security company providing
innovative systems, products and solutions in autonomous systems,
cyber, C4ISR, strike, and logistics and modernization to government
and commercial customers worldwide. Please visit
www.northropgrumman.com for more information.
CONTACT: Connie Reese
310-812-3166
connie.reese@ngc.com
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