WEBVTT FILE

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Now fully assembled, the PACE spacecraft nears completion of its final environmental tests at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

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These tests ensure the spacecraft can survive the rigors of
launch and orbit early next year.

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The spacecraft and instruments are all together assembled
in this chamber behind me,

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and we are blasting them
with acoustic energy

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to look at the response
of the different parts of the observatory

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and make sure nothing gets damaged.

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And the reason we do
this is to simulate the launch environment

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for the vibration in the acoustic range
during launch.

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Today

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the full level that we get up to is
almost 140 decibels, which is very loud.

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It would definitely damage your hearing.

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It's like the same kind of noise
you'd hear if you're close to an airplane

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with a jet engine or a very loud rock
concert near the speakers.

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For years, I've been witnessing tests
in this chamber for various missions,

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and I always see
the large speakers in there,

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and they're shaped like cones, which
remind me of bells of brass instruments.

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And so I thought, you know,
what could we do to have

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a group of musicians play
and see if they could equal the sound

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that we simulate
during one of our launch acoustics tests.

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[”Also Sprach Zarathustra” plays]

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The Marine Band didn’t quite match the same sound levels PACE withstood, but made a different lasting impression...

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The musicians composed a fanfare for PACE’s journey.

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[loud drum hit followed by a swell of orchestral music]