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Improved cryogenic testing capability at Marshall Space Flight Center's X-ray Cryogenic Facility

2006; SPIE; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1117/12.672096

1996-756X

Jeff Kegley, Mark Baker, Jay Carpenter, Ron Eng, Harlan Haight, William Hogue, Jeff McCracken, Kevin Russell, Richard Siler, E. L. Wright,

Spacecraft and Cryogenic Technologies

Marshall Space Flight Center's X-ray Cryogenic Facility (XRCF) has been performing optical wavefront testing and thermal structural deformation testing at sub-liquid nitrogen cryogenic temperatures since 1999. Recent modifications have been made to the facility in support of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) program. The test article envelope and the chamber's refrigeration capacity have both been increased. A new larger helium-cooled enclosure has been added to the existing enclosure increasing both the cross-sectional area and the length. This new enclosure is capable of supporting six JWST Primary Mirror Segment Assemblies. A second helium refrigeration system has been installed essentially doubling the cooling capacity available at the facility. Modifications have also been made to the optical instrumentation area. Improved access is now available for both the installation and operation of optical instrumentation outside the vacuum chamber. Chamber configuration, specifications, and performance data will be presented.