James Webb Space Telescope Microshutters Subsystem Project Thermal Chamber Ground Support Equipment Automated Control

An automated control system for the microshutter assembly (MSA) portion of the JWST MSS (James Webb Space Telescope Micro shutters Subsystem) was developed. This is a cryogenic device that operates at 35 K. Cooling down and warming back up is a critical activity since the arrays are very fragile. This process used to be manual. After seeing the difficulties of operating in this mode with the engineering test unit (ETU), a decision was made to develop a LabVIEW-based control system to monitor temperature sensors, and control the heater, cryocooler, and vacuum pumps. This system fully automated the process for warm-up and cool-down, and reduced the overall time it took in the process. A text message alert system was included so that members of a call tree were alerted if there were any violations of set constraints.