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(music)

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(Jim Garvin) Once the satellite is on the launch pad,
it's out of our hands. So how do we make

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sure it doesn't break or fail to operate
properly in the space environment?

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Well we test it, we test it, and we test
it. One of the biggest things we have to

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do is make sure it survives the launch
to space. One of the key tests we do is

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right here in our acoustic and our
vibration chambers. The launch loads of

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getting into space are extreme. So we
shake it and we bake it. Sometimes these

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environments are even much more extreme than even people can handle. We also have

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a giant centrifuge. It spins the
spacecraft to simulate the forces of

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gravity, the G-loading, that the satellite
has to successfully encounter. Sometimes

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these forces are 30 times those that we
experienced here on the surface of Earth.

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And finally, we have a thermal vacuum
chamber here at Goddard. This is where we

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simulate the real environments of space,
both in Earth orbit and in deep space.

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And those environments go from minus 300 degrees Fahrenheit, that's almost as cold

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as Pluto, to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. And
satellites sometimes have to go through

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those swings in temperature 15 times a
day. Sometimes even more. So we test our

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satellites, almost until they break, to
make sure that when they get into orbit,

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or out into deep space, they work just
the way we intended.

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(music)