It's been 27 years and NASA has launched Hubble space telescope to explore distant galaxies and other space phenomena, but now it’s about to retire and the technology is becoming older. For deep studies, astronauts have created James Webb Space Telescope at NASA’s Goddard space Center that will be a better successor to Hubble. However, before launching in 2018 it has to pass some critical tests.
NASA astronauts have shipped the mega-telescope to Johnson Space Center in Houston where it will undergo some critical cryogenic tests before the flight. The main purpose of this test is to check its ability to withstand intense cold temperature in deep space. According to Space, the James Webb Space Telescope is a joint project of NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency.
However, James Webb Space Telescope has already passed the violent vibration tests at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. To transport the machine, JWST team loaded the telescope pieces onto a truck and carefully traveled to Joint Base Andrews military base in Maryland. After that U.S Air Force took the responsibility and carried the entire truck with their gigantic C-5C aircraft.
The James Webb Space Telescope is now under the reassembling process and it will be ready within next week. NASA reported that the JWST will stay at Johnson Space Center lab for 100 days. NASA officials said,“To ensure the telescope's optics will operate at its frigid destination 1 million miles out in space, it must complete tests at cryogenic temperatures in a vacuum”.
At the final stage of the experiment, the James Webb Space Telescope will be kept in a vacuum chamber for some days that was upgraded in 2013, the same chamber where NASA’s historic Apollo spacecraft was tested in. After completing the cryogenic test, JWST’s next destination is set to Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, California for its final assembling and testing. A tennis court sized sun shield will be attached to the telescope for its protection against infrared radiation.
