NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has completed the commissioning phase and optical performance evaluation. The size, architecture, and scope of Webb required new approaches to optical performance verification leveraging modeling and simulation. This effort was managed using system engineering processes with emphasis on model validation and statistical management of risks via error budgeting. At this time, this approach can be evaluated and understood given the process used for commissioning including tradeoffs of schedule, performance and risk. The lessons learned and approach are reviewed to assess the approach for future missions. To this end, this paper compares the predicted performance with that achieved on-orbit.
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