WEBVTT FILE

1
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:10.480
(music)

2
00:00:10.480 --> 00:00:15.380
(Jim Garvin) Once the satellite is on the launch pad,
it's out of our hands. So how do we make

3
00:00:15.380 --> 00:00:19.880
sure it doesn't break or fail to operate
properly in the space environment?

4
00:00:19.880 --> 00:00:27.200
Well we test it, we test it, and we test
it. One of the biggest things we have to

5
00:00:27.200 --> 00:00:32.750
do is make sure it survives the launch
to space. One of the key tests we do is

6
00:00:32.750 --> 00:00:37.489
right here in our acoustic and our
vibration chambers. The launch loads of

7
00:00:37.489 --> 00:00:43.430
getting into space are extreme. So we
shake it and we bake it. Sometimes these

8
00:00:43.430 --> 00:00:49.100
environments are even much more extreme than even people can handle. We also have

9
00:00:49.100 --> 00:00:53.600
a giant centrifuge. It spins the
spacecraft to simulate the forces of

10
00:00:53.600 --> 00:00:58.579
gravity, the G-loading, that the satellite
has to successfully encounter. Sometimes

11
00:00:58.579 --> 00:01:02.930
these forces are 30 times those that we
experienced here on the surface of Earth.

12
00:01:02.930 --> 00:01:08.720
And finally, we have a thermal vacuum
chamber here at Goddard. This is where we

13
00:01:08.720 --> 00:01:13.759
simulate the real environments of space,
both in Earth orbit and in deep space.

14
00:01:13.759 --> 00:01:18.920
And those environments go from minus 300 degrees Fahrenheit, that's almost as cold

15
00:01:18.920 --> 00:01:24.049
as Pluto, to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. And
satellites sometimes have to go through

16
00:01:24.049 --> 00:01:30.110
those swings in temperature 15 times a
day. Sometimes even more. So we test our

17
00:01:30.110 --> 00:01:34.369
satellites, almost until they break, to
make sure that when they get into orbit,

18
00:01:34.369 --> 00:01:39.060
or out into deep space, they work just
the way we intended.

19
00:01:39.120 --> 00:01:43.880
(music)