James Webb Space Telescope passes loud noise and vibration tests

The James Webb Space Telescope, which is currently scheduled to launch in March 2021, has passed some important new tests. Among other things, part of the spacecraft was examined to see if it could withstand intense noise and vibrations.

NASA reports that it has tested the spacecraft’s ability to withstand intense vibrations and a noise level of 140.7 decibels. James Webb passed the tests successfully. The space agency used these tests to simulate the conditions of the launch, where the spacecraft is exposed to intense vibrations and noise levels that will occur as the Ariane 5 rocket flies through the atmosphere at high speed in 2021.

According to Paul Geithner of NASA, the vibration test was comparable to a rather jerky flight of a passenger plane experiencing turbulence. He also describes the acoustic situation during the launch as ‘a hundred times as intense and four times as loud as a rock concert’.

Both tests were not so much about the telescope, but about the other ‘half’: the accompanying sun shield and the spacecraft part that flies the telescope to its place in space. Such an acoustic test was already carried out last year, which revealed a problem with a specific part of the solar shield. Modifications have been made on the basis of this, which have now been successfully tested. The other half, the actual telescope and scientific instruments, has already passed such acoustic and vibration tests at an earlier stage.

After completing the current tests, the spacecraft section will be primed for another round of testing, verifying that everything is working properly from an electrical standpoint while mimicking the cold conditions of the vacuum of space. After that, the part is folded for the launch configuration, after which both halves are joined together.

The James Webb Space Telescope will not orbit the Earth like Hubble, but will be located at a distance of 1.5 million kilometers from Earth. Unlike most existing telescopes, James Webb’s instruments operate primarily in the infrared range of the spectrum, capturing light from the first stars formed after the Big Bang. This allows James Webb to look significantly further into the universe than other telescopes.