WEBVTT FILE 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.