Tuesday, October 3

9:00 AM
9:00 AM - 9:50 AM PDT

Keynote: James Webb Space Telescope System Architecture and Science Performance: Sensitive Devices in Complex Space Systems

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), launched on December 25, 2022, is NASA’s successor mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. JWST has been designed and developed to observe “first light” objects in the nascent universe, the evolution of galaxies over cosmic history, star birth within our own galaxy, planet formation and evolution both in our solar system and in solar systems around other stars and to make detailed observations of some of the recently discovered exoplanets. The JWST telescope has an aperture greater than 6 meters in diameter and must be cooled to cryogenic temperatures below 50K. This presentation will give an overview of the JWST systems and design challenges as well as a brief overview of the science capabilities.

Julie Van Campen

Julie Van Campen

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

Julie Van Campen is a Senior Systems Engineer working at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.  During the development of JWST, Julie was the James Webb Space Telescope Lead Systems Engineer for the Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM).  During JWST Commissioning, she also served as the Deputy Commissioning Manager.

In her role on Webb, Van Campen oversaw all operational, mechanical, thermal, optical, and electrical interfaces between the subsystems and the ISIM, which is the integrated system of all four science instruments with shared support systems.

As a systems engineer, she works to ensure her team's success. She focuses on communicating, collaborating, and coordinating to find solutions to technical and organizational challenges. She started her career designing charged particle instruments and systems and eventually came to Goddard as a facility engineer at the center’s testing complex.  Her involvement with the Webb project extends back to 2003, when she joined Webb’s ISIM Systems Engineering team. Van Campen was the Instrument Systems Engineer on both the NIRCam and NIRSpec instruments until they were delivered to ISIM.  While leading the ISIM Systems engineering team, she has also served as the Deputy Mission Operations Manager and the Deputy Commissioning Manager of Webb.  She currently continues with Webb, supporting the Mission Systems Engineering team by leading investigations into anomalies.

Growing up in the outskirts of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she was involved in building projects with her dad and worked summers during high school at a horse farm. Van Campen's propensity to dive into challenging projects and her desire to push boundaries in all that she encountered drove her to study engineering. She received her bachelor's and master's degrees in mechanical engineering from Lehigh University and Johns Hopkins University.

In her spare time, she works as a volunteer park ranger for the Maryland Park Service, maintaining trails, buildings, and other structures. She enjoys backpacking and is currently working on hiking the Appalachian trail in sections.

Keynote: James Webb Space Telescope System Architecture and Science Performance: Sensitive Devices in Complex Space Systems