NASA's James Webb Space Telescope Is An Extremely Tough Machine

NASA's successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope, is currently scheduled to launch in the spring of 2019. But before that happens, the space agency needs to make sure the instrument is hardy enough to survive the harsh environment of space and to ensure that, JWST is being put through a variety of tests. In a statement Tuesday on NASA's website, the deputy project manager (technical) for JWST, Paul Geithner explained that the mechanical stress from the vibrations during the launch would only be the first of the many stressful conditions the telescope would go through. In addition, JWST would have to also cope with shrinking and expansion, induced by temperature changes in space. This is necessary for the space-borne observatory to survive years in space.