Telescope of James Webb in a mobile sterile room

Telescope of James Webb in a mobile sterile room

The picture shows a huge silver “box” - a mobile clean room for the elements of the James Webb Space Telescope. The telescope is transported from the place of creation to another building where vibration and thermal vacuum tests will take place.

To transport a space telescope from one building to another, it is necessary to ensure its safety and sterility. To do this, use a special giant packaging, functioning as a mobile sterile room.

All satellites and observatories are created in clean rooms. They filter out dangerous contaminants, because even a speck of dust or a fingerprint can damage sensitive instruments. Therefore, during transportation can not do without a mobile clean room. This type of conveyor resembles a giant silver box. Inside you can see a solar panel.

A mobile clean room is a giant hermetic bag that is blown with clean, dry air coming from pressurized cylinders through a flexible tube. A small leak is included in the design, so that the container is able to maintain positive pressure by blocking the flow of air. The element of a spacecraft must pass the vibration and thermal vacuum tests. The size of the “cover” resembles a large bus, set vertically. Therefore, engineers need to use major technology to transport it and maintain sterility during final assembly and testing.

Telescope of James Webb in a mobile sterile room

Another vacuum pack image with a James Webb space telescope element

After all the tests are completed, the element will be repackaged and returned to a sterile room at the Northrop Grumman plant in California, where it will be attached to the rest of the telescope's design, which will go into space.

New breakthrough in science

When James Webb is launched into space in 2021 and activated for work, it will be a real gift for scientists seeking to uncover cosmic secrets. James Webb will be able to go into the past, looking for light in the early Universe and watching the process of evolution of galaxies. He will study the planets and other celestial bodies of the solar system in order to discover similar patterns of development.

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