The telescope also contains an Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM) – a framework that provides electrical power, computing resources, cooling capability as well as structural stability to the Webb telescope. The ISIM is made with Orbital ATK’s bonded graphite-epoxy composites, which are attached to the underside of Webb’s telescope structure. The ISIM holds the four science instruments and a guide camera. In 2009, NASA said the JWST application is the first time that this composite material has been used as a cryogenic optical metering structure.
“This may be the last [space] telescope that we build that is not modular,” NASA administrator Charles Bolden said in a press conference on JWST.
The next steps in the process for NASA are to attach the telescope to a sunshield and spacecraft and begin testing. It is on pace to launch October 2018.
