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Nasa james webb space telescope passes2/18/2024 Khoury Industries designs and manufactures custom thermal testing chambers and microwave thermal testing fixtures used in a variety of industries including: military, space, automotive, medical, research, and communication fields. Khoury Industries is a worldwide leader in temperature testing equipment for device characterization, thermal cycling equipment, and failure analysis. NASA, “ NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope Completes Environmental Testing “, October 2020, Accessed 28 December 2020. NASA, “ NASA’s Webb Completes Significant Testing Milestone for Deployable Tower “, November 2020, Accessed 28 December 2020. NASA, “ NASA’s Webb Sunshield Successfully Unfolds and Tensions in Final Tests “, December 2020, Accessed 28 December 2020. With high marks in every test and simulation so far, the future looks bright for the telescope in 2021. With such extensive environmental testing, NASA plans on the James Webb Space Telescope launching on schedule and spending years exploring space and sending fascinating new data during its journey. The team has designed each of the five membranes to operate and tension independently of one another, which also gives the sunshield a better chance of surviving a malfunction with one of the systems.Įvery piece of machinery, from simple consumer semiconductors to telescopes with 139 actuators, requires thermal testing. Webb Telescope’s sunshield was deployed using 139 actuators, eight motors, and thousands of components to unfold and stretch the five membranes of the sunshield into its final kite-like shape. The team not only performed thermal tests, but deployment and tension tests under extreme cold temperatures as well in order to prepare the craft for unforeseen conditions like having to deal with unexpected friction (simulated by Earth’s gravity, in this instance). The Kapton® membranes were developed and thermal tested to withstand incredible temperatures to keep the rest of the craft undamaged.Ī majority of the testing for the telescope is performed in an artificially cooled environment to prepare for the subzero (☏, ☌) temperatures typical in outer space. The material has been created to be able to reflect light and heat away from the telescope and other systems, keeping the observation area at a workable 185° F. The spacecraft will depend on a mirror system in the solar-facing side of the bus as well as a mechanically deployed sunshield made of Kapton® polymer-coated membranes. The Webb Space Telescope will be traveling in temperatures around 2.7 Kelvin, which is roughly equal to -455° F and -270.45° C, along with Sun exposure that could damage most essential electronics and sensitive infrared sensors without proper consideration and fortification. This telescope has an intricate array of systems that need to be able to operate in the harsh conditions beyond Earth’s atmosphere. They are hitting their targets in order to launch the Webb Telescope in the end of October 2021. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has endured rigorous testing throughout the back half of 2020, hitting major milestones like its tower deployment, environmental and thermal tests, and now a deployment and tension test for the telescope’s sunshield. Industry Related News: United States – December, 2020: James Webb's Eye in the Sky Aids Human Eyes with LASIK Techįollow Samantha Mathewson.Cosmic Eye Candy! James Webb Space Telescope Halloween Costume Is a Real Treat (Photos).How the James Webb Space Telescope Works (Infographic).Then, the telescope has just one final deployment and stowing cycle before it launches to space. Next, the spacecraft will undergo electrical and mechanical tests to simulate the vibration environment it will endure during launch. Following the successful deployment, NASA team members will start folding the sun shield back into its stowed position, according to the statement. When deployed, the sun shield separates the space observatory into a warm side that always faces the sun and a cold side that always faces deep space. "Many thanks to all the engineers and technicians for their perseverance, focus and countless hours of effort to achieve this milestone." "This test showed that the sunshield system survived spacecraft element environmental testing, and taught us about the interfaces and interactions between the telescope and sunshield parts of the observatory," Cooper said in the statement. In order to simulate the lack of gravity that the spacecraft will experience, NASA technicians used gravity-offsetting pulleys and weights. Testing the sun shield's deployment helps ensure that it will function successfully once in orbit.
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