Northrop Grumman
Northrop Grumman Space Systems
Aerospace contractor that built the JWST sunshield — the largest deployable membrane structure in space. Heritage directly applicable to cryogenic depot sunshield architecture.
Outreach Questions (1)
What deployment reliability data and lessons learned are available from JWST sunshield, and what design simplifications would be possible for a depot-scale thermal shield without JWST's optical requirements?
JWST's 5-layer sunshield is the closest heritage to what Project Dyson needs for cryogenic depot thermal protection. A simpler depot sunshield (no optical surface requirements) could potentially reduce deployment risk while maintaining thermal performance.
Question Status
Contacts
James Webb Space Telescope Team
Sunshield Engineering
Designed and built 21m x 14m 5-layer deployable sunshield