NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) successfully completed the center of curvature test, a crucial optical measurement of the telescope’s primary mirror prior to cryogenic testing, and the final test at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
The spacecraft will be shipped to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston for more testing.
“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,” said Bill Ochs, NASA’s Web telescope project manager. “It has taken a tremendous team of talented individuals to get to this point from all across NASA, our industry and international partners, and academia. 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.”
JWST will experience high levels of noise and vibration during the rocket launch that will carry into space. Engineers at Goddard tested the space telescope in vibration and acoustics test facilities that simulate the launch environment to ensure that functionality is not impaired by the stresses of a rocket ride into space.
Optical engineers set up an interferometer, the main device used to measure the shape of the telescope’s mirror, both before and after the environmental tests. An interferometer records and measures the ripple patterns that result when different beams of light mix and their waves combine or “interfere.”
Waves of visible light are less than a thousandth of a millimeter long. The optics on JWST must be shaped and aligned even more accurately than that to function properly.
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