1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,990 [slate] 2 00:00:04,010 --> 00:00:08,020 [slate] 3 00:00:08,040 --> 00:00:12,050 I like 4 00:00:12,070 --> 00:00:16,120 to think of the James Webb Space Telescope as NASA's vehicle for the deepest 5 00:00:16,140 --> 00:00:20,270 space exploration that humanity can do. We designed Webb to have a 6 00:00:20,290 --> 00:00:24,380 larger mirror and infrared optimized system to see 7 00:00:24,400 --> 00:00:28,430 farther into the universe than Hubble can today. This infrared 8 00:00:28,450 --> 00:00:32,480 optimization also means that we can do things like peer inside dust clouds 9 00:00:32,500 --> 00:00:36,570 in our own galaxy to see where stars and planets 10 00:00:36,590 --> 00:00:40,590 are being born today. 11 00:00:40,610 --> 00:00:44,620 [slate] 12 00:00:44,640 --> 00:00:48,780 We start with the very smallest pieces we put together and we test 13 00:00:48,800 --> 00:00:52,850 them in relevant environments. If they're going to be cold, we test them cold. If they're going to be 14 00:00:52,870 --> 00:00:56,960 deployed we make sure they deploy. If they are going to 15 00:00:56,980 --> 00:01:01,110 experience the violence of launch, and every piece of the telescope 16 00:01:01,130 --> 00:01:05,290 will, we put it into a chamber and then on a shaker 17 00:01:05,310 --> 00:01:09,330 table where it feels the same forces that it will through launch 18 00:01:09,350 --> 00:01:13,390 So it's just a lot of testing. And as you build the telescope 19 00:01:13,410 --> 00:01:17,480 up to ever larger structures, you test each of those as you 20 00:01:17,500 --> 00:01:21,640 build it up. Right now at the Goddard Space Flight Center in the clean room, 21 00:01:21,660 --> 00:01:25,680 they've taken the telescope through that vibration 22 00:01:25,700 --> 00:01:29,750 testing and now they're measuring the optics. They're making sure 23 00:01:29,770 --> 00:01:33,850 that the telescope optics and instruments are where they need to be 24 00:01:33,870 --> 00:01:37,970 after they've gone through a simulated launch. 25 00:01:37,990 --> 00:01:42,000 [slate] 26 00:01:42,020 --> 00:01:46,050 You just have to keep testing 27 00:01:46,070 --> 00:01:50,100 and retesting all the things that you expect the telescope 28 00:01:50,120 --> 00:01:54,200 to experience. And so for us on Webb that means 29 00:01:54,220 --> 00:01:58,340 we need to make sure it can survive launch. So we do vibration testing 30 00:01:58,360 --> 00:02:02,530 at small component level, and as we build it up we test 31 00:02:02,550 --> 00:02:06,580 that as well. Because we are what's called a cryogenic 32 00:02:06,600 --> 00:02:10,670 telescope, meaning a very cold telescope, we put it into chambers 33 00:02:10,690 --> 00:02:14,830 and take the temperature down to just a few tens of degrees above absolute zero. 34 00:02:14,850 --> 00:02:19,000 So minus 400-degree Fahrenheit, and make sure all the parts 35 00:02:19,020 --> 00:02:23,090 still work as they are planned to. And because we're so large 36 00:02:23,110 --> 00:02:27,190 and we have to fold up to fit inside the rocket, we do deployment 37 00:02:27,210 --> 00:02:31,340 testing. So we make sure our mirrors can fold out, and our secondary 38 00:02:31,360 --> 00:02:35,400 mirror can fold down and the big sunshield can deploy. 39 00:02:35,420 --> 00:02:39,470 All those tests have to be done several times on Earth 40 00:02:39,490 --> 00:02:43,550 before we launch it into space. And then of course we also 41 00:02:43,570 --> 00:02:47,680 mentioned earlier here at Goddard they're testing the optics of this 42 00:02:47,700 --> 00:02:51,830 system. Once you have done some of these tests you want to make sure your telescope 43 00:02:51,850 --> 00:02:55,870 and instruments still function like they're supposed to. 44 00:02:55,890 --> 00:03:00,060 [slate] 45 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:04,140 I know for a fact that the science community can't wait to study the TRAPPIST system 46 00:03:04,160 --> 00:03:08,220 with the James Webb Space Telescope. Last week I was at a science conference and 47 00:03:08,240 --> 00:03:12,360 this very system was talked about how it would be 48 00:03:12,380 --> 00:03:16,550 analyzed with Webb. So the science community is 49 00:03:16,570 --> 00:03:20,600 ready to go for exoplanet studies with Webb. 50 00:03:20,620 --> 00:03:24,680 So something like TRAPPIST-1 system and even other nearby systems 51 00:03:24,700 --> 00:03:28,730 will certainly be among the very early things that Webb studies. 52 00:03:28,750 --> 00:03:32,750 [slate] 53 00:03:32,770 --> 00:03:36,840 Each of our mirrors, and there are 18 segments 54 00:03:36,860 --> 00:03:40,940 is adjustable. We can move these segments left and right 55 00:03:40,960 --> 00:03:45,140 We can move them in and out. We can move them around this way. And we can actually 56 00:03:45,160 --> 00:03:49,200 change their shape a little bit. One of the lessons we learned 57 00:03:49,220 --> 00:03:53,290 from Hubble is that you must put active optics so to speak, 58 00:03:53,310 --> 00:03:57,400 so that you can make the mirror adjustable. So when it goes up we know we can 59 00:03:57,420 --> 00:04:01,440 adjust it to be perfect after launch. 60 00:04:01,460 --> 00:04:05,610 [slate] 61 00:04:05,630 --> 00:04:09,780 Because we have such a very large mirror, one of the things we needed to do 62 00:04:09,800 --> 00:04:13,850 is make sure that our mirrors had the right optical shape as 63 00:04:13,870 --> 00:04:17,960 we changed their temperature from room temperature to the extremely cold temperatures in space. 64 00:04:17,980 --> 00:04:22,040 So we had to develop measuring techniques that would allow us to do this, 65 00:04:22,060 --> 00:04:26,210 and those very same measuring techniques have been commercialized 66 00:04:26,230 --> 00:04:30,240 into machines that people will use to measure the shape of the 67 00:04:30,260 --> 00:04:34,300 cornea of your eye. So if you were going to get laser surgery or 68 00:04:34,320 --> 00:04:38,370 you needed measurements of your eye, you'd be using the same technology that we're 69 00:04:38,390 --> 00:04:42,400 going to send a million miles away into space. 70 00:04:42,420 --> 00:04:46,450 [slate] 71 00:04:46,470 --> 00:04:50,600 Because we built Webb to really peer back to see the first 72 00:04:50,620 --> 00:04:54,670 stars and galaxies and we've been working on it a long time for that, I really want to 73 00:04:54,690 --> 00:04:58,770 see the answer back from that. But if I'm honest with myself 74 00:04:58,790 --> 00:05:02,920 the thing that most excites me is that observation that somebody 75 00:05:02,940 --> 00:05:07,090 makes that reveals something completely unexpected. 76 00:05:07,110 --> 00:05:11,200 And that's what I'm looking forward to when somebody gets data back 77 00:05:11,220 --> 00:05:15,310 and go 'I wasn't expecting that at all.' That's the real excitement of science. 78 00:05:15,330 --> 00:05:19,360 [slate] 79 00:05:19,380 --> 00:05:23,370 You can go to 80 00:05:23,390 --> 00:05:27,470 NASA.gov or JWST.nasa.gov 81 00:05:27,490 --> 00:05:31,620 and learn about the James Webb Space Telescope. There you'll find things 82 00:05:31,640 --> 00:05:35,770 and links to videos and thousands of images of the telescope 83 00:05:35,790 --> 00:05:39,960 descriptions of the science and even a little bit about 84 00:05:39,980 --> 00:05:44,040 the people who are building the telescope and of course some of the fantastic engineering that's going 85 00:05:44,060 --> 00:05:45,859 on as well.