This Echo is READ ONLY !   NO Un-Authorized Messages Please!
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jerry Berg
Media Relations Dept.
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL
jerry.berg{at}msfc.nasa.gov
(256) 544-0034

For release: 05/14/03

Release no.: 03-076

Mirror candidates for space telescope undergo 'out-of-this-world'
test regimen

"Out-of-this-world" tests on NASA's James Webb Space Telescope mirror 
candidates will be conducted during the spring and summer months in a 
Marshall Center vacuum chamber cooled to approximate the supercold 
temperatures found in space.

What: Testing of an Advanced Mirror System Demonstrator for NASA's
James Webb Space Telescope, successor to the Hubble Space Telescope,
is currently under way at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in
Huntsville, Ala. Two mirror technology candidates will undergo a
battery of stringent optical performance tests under cryogenic
(supercold) conditions during the spring and summer months. One
technology will ultimately be chosen as the one to be pursued for the
primary mirror of the Webb telescope.

The mirror now undergoing testing was built by Eastman Kodak Company, 
Commercial & Government Systems, Rochester, N.Y. The other candidate, 
built by Ball Aerospace, Boulder, Colo., is currently scheduled to
begin testing in June 2003.

The James Webb Space Telescope project is managed by NASA's Goddard 
Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

This is an opportunity to see and photograph a unique testing
process, under "out-of-this-world" conditions, on optics for a
next-generation space telescope.

Who: A team of Marshall engineers and specialists will conduct tests
and analyze results. Dr. H. Phillip Stahl from Marshall's Space
Optics Manufacturing Technology Center is available for interviews
about telescope mirror development and testing.

When: Interested media should call to schedule visits for coverage.

Where: Marshall Space Flight Center, X-Ray Calibration Facility

To attend: News media interested in this subject should contact the 
Marshall Media Relations Department at (256) 544-0034. Media must
report to Gate 1, Martin Road exit at South Memorial Parkway.
Vehicles are subject to security search at the gate. News media will
need two photo identifications and proof of car insurance. Visitor
parking is available in front of Bldg. 4200 on the southwest side.

For supporting materials for this news release, such as photographs, 
please visit the NASA Marshall Center Newsroom Web site at:

     http://www.msfc.nasa.gov/news

For additional information on the James Webb Space Telescope, visit
the Goddard Space Flight Center Web site at:

     http://jwst.gsfc.nasa.gov/

QUICK FACTS: X-RAY CALIBRATION FACILITY

The X-Ray Calibration Facility at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center
in Huntsville, Ala., is the world's largest, most advanced laboratory
for simulating X-ray and visible light emissions from distant
celestial objects. The facility produces a space-like environment in
which optical components for space telescopes can be tested and the
quality of their performance in space predicted. The facility
includes four buildings with an interconnecting evacuated pipe that
extends approximately one-third mile in length.

The X-Ray Calibration Facility is a world-class facility uniquely 
qualified to test mirrors such as those of the James Webb Space 
Telescope. In operation since the mid-1970s, the facility was
originally used to simulate X-ray emissions from distant celestial
objects to measure the X-ray optical performance of the HEAO-B or
Einstein Observatory. A 1999 facility improvement added a helium
refrigeration unit and cryogenic shroud, making it possible to test
visible optics at cryogenic temperatures. Technology upgrades have
also reduced testing time and costs.

During its 27 years of operation, the facility has performed testing
in support of a wide array of projects, including the Hubble Space
Telescope, Solar A, Chandra technology development, Chandra High 
Resolution Mirror Assembly and science instruments, Constellation
X-Ray Mission, and Solar X-Ray Imager, currently operating on a
Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite.

Testing at the Marshall Center on the Advanced Mirror System 
Demonstrator for the Webb Telescope will be conducted in a vacuum 
chamber cooled to approximate the supercold temperatures found in
space. Numerous measurements will be taken to predict future
performance.

 - END OF FILE -
==========

@Message posted automagically by IMTHINGS POST 1.30
---