Anne Longlet is Next Presenter for Brown Bag Seminar Series on December 3rd
The fall semester Brown Bag Seminar Series features graduate students providing presentations on their current research and recent internships. The series continues on Wednesday, December 3rd, featuring grad student Anne Longlet presenting “Dust Mitigation on the James Webb Space Telescope.”
This series of presentations will be held in the Space Studies Library at noon. Lunch will be served. All grad students are expected to attend.
About the topic: A major consideration with current space flight is preventing terrestrial dust particles from contaminating spacecrafts and interfering with their intended function. This typically occurs before the spacecraft is launched while certain components are in storage or during system integration. Although the amount of dust particles that come into contact with the spacecraft can be controlled through the use of clean rooms, microscopic particles still gather on surfaces over time. Despite their minute size, they are still a major concern during spacecraft preparation. This study focuses on the upcoming launch (2017-18) of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and preparing the primary and secondary mirrors for launch. JWST will become the next premier observatory by looking back to the objects that formed in the early Universe, observing planetary systems, and studying the origins of stars. Its mirrors are tuned to such precision that tactile methods for removing dust and contamination would damage the surface, making the mirrors unusable. Tactile methods are unable to remove the smallest, submicron particles and if used, could damage the surface. If chemicals are used in the cleaning process a residue could be left behind. These chemical washes can also be expensive, which is not ideal for long-term use. Using compressed gas or brushes to get rid of dust is also ineffective because the dust would simply be transferred to a different location on the surface. This problem of having such particles contaminating surfaces does not only exist for JWST and other spacecrafts, but also in clean rooms across the globe. The purpose of this research is to create a handheld dust mitigation device that is capable of non-tactile interaction with surfaces in one terrestrial atmosphere.
About the presenter: Anne Longlet is pursuing a Master’s Degree is Space Studies and is currently in her second year here, and is expecting to graduate in May 2015. Before she moved to Grand Forks in August 2013, she completed a Bachelor’s Degree in mathematics and physics at Winona State University in Winona, MN. During her time here at UND she has worked with Dr. Fevig on high altitude ballooning and was the student lead for planning and organizing the Academic High Altitude Atmospheric Research Conference, which was held at UND in June 2014. Anne is currently working for Dr. Hardersen at the UND Observatory. This past summer Anne worked at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center on a project involving dust mitigation for the James Webb Space Telescope.