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Telescope travels to Texas for testing


The James Webb Space Telescope has completed its environmental testing at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The Webb telescope will be shipped to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston for end-to-end optical testing in a vacuum at extremely cold operating temperatures. Andy Pye reports.


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ASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s most advanced space observatory. It is designed to unravel some of the greatest mysteries of the universe, from discovering the first stars and galaxies that formed after the big bang to studying the atmospheres of planets around other stars. It is a joint project of NASA, ESA (the European Space Agency) and the Canadian Space Agency, and was assembled in a Class 10,000 cleanroom at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. The telescope has successfully passed the centre of curvature test, an important optical measurement of Webb’s fully assembled primary mirror prior to cryogenic testing, and the last test held at NASA’s Goddard Space


Climatic & Vibration Testing 2017


Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, before the spacecraft is shipped to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston for more testing. After undergoing rigorous


environmental tests simulating the stresses of its rocket launch, the Webb telescope team at Goddard analysed the results from this critical optical test and compared it to the pre-test measurements. The team concluded that the mirrors passed the test with the optical system unscathed. “The Webb telescope is about to embark on its next step in reaching the stars as it has successfully completed its integration and testing at Goddard. It has taken a tremendous team of talented individuals to get to this point from all across NASA, our industry


❱❱ The complex structure of the James Webb Space Telescope has endured rigorous vibration, climatic and acoustic testing


and international partners, as well as academia,” says Bill Ochs, NASA’s Webb telescope project manager. “It is also a sad time as we say goodbye to the Webb Telescope at Goddard, but are excited to begin cryogenic testing at Johnson.” Rocket launches create high levels of


vibration and noise that rattle spacecraft and telescopes. At Goddard, engineers tested the Webb telescope in vibration and acoustics test facilities that simulate the launch environment to ensure that functionality is not impaired by the rigorous ride on a rocket into space.


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