success in flight did not come without
failure during the past century
explorers from Earth have failed many
times to escape from their planet where
they have been imprisoned by the chains
of gravity since the dawn of time but
with each failure came new knowledge
with over the years led to success
enabling space pioneers to build a
celestial highway to take them on
voyages where they had never been
in the world of spaceflight hardware
success requires reliable design
manufacturing and testing after being
manufactured and assembled with
precision spacecraft are tested in a
laboratory to determine if they can
survive the rigorous launching into
orbit and other hostilities of the space
environment the idea of testing a
machine before flying it began long
before rocket flights commenced in the
1940s the Wright brothers built their on
win time and tested a variety of wind
shapes they also flew more than 1000
flights at Kitty Hawk with a powerless
glider during 1902 one year before their
historical powered flight Wilbur Wright
to allay parental fears about the 1903
flight wrote a letter to his father in
which he said the man who wishes to keep
it the problem long enough to really
learn anything positively must not take
dangerous risks carelessness and
overconfidence are usually more
dangerous than deliberately accepted
risks Wilbur Wright concluded the Wright
brothers understood that flying was
risky but felt the dangers could be
understood controlled and accepted the
tradition of flight testing begun by the
Wright brothers is continued today in a
broadly expanded way and one of the
world's leading space science
laboratories NASA's Goddard Space Flight
Center just outside of Washington DC
Goddard is among the world's leading
pioneers in developing the technology
for building and environmentally testing
scientific instruments spacecraft and
other space systems
Godard has the in-house capability to
conceive design manufacture test and
deliver scientific instruments and
complete Space Systems to investigate
the physical universe in which we live
Goddard's overall capability to support
wide-ranging scientific investigations
makes it one of the most unique space
science laboratories in the world during
the 25 years that Goddard hardware
capabilities were being developed more
than 40 complete spacecraft systems were
integrated and tested services for
another 2,000 sounding rocket missions
were also provided the Goddard team
always striving for excellence has
established a reliability record that is
unparalleled in space technology since
Goddard stores opened for business in
1960 all spacecraft or spaceflight
systems which were built integrated and
tested at the Goddard Space Flight
Center have worked successfully in orbit
the manufacturing and testing facilities
at Goddard were designed originally for
the small Explorer class of spacecraft
several modifications were made over the
years to accommodate larger spacecraft
or space systems like the orbiting
astronomical observatory international
ultraviolet Explorer solar maximum
mission and the OSS one out
currently Goddard is integrating and
testing the cosmic background Explorer
or Kobe for short Kobe is the largest
spacecraft which can be integrated and
tested using existing Goddard facilities
Goddard plans to expand existing
integration and testing facilities to
accommodate the larger spacecraft under
development today as well as those being
designed for the 21st century the
complex technologies associated with the
development of space flight systems
require the intimate partnership of
engineers technicians and scientists to
accomplish rapid progress at the
frontiers of knowledge the design
manufacturing and environmental testing
teams atwater work in harmony like the
members of a symphony orchestra to
produce a result far beyond the
capability of any single individual the
Goddard facilities are instruments in
the hands of professionals who operate
them and are among the best in the
aerospace community Goddard maintains a
complete manufacturing facility
including computer-aided manufacturing
equipment and traditional manually
operated machine
by using computer-aided manufacturing
techniques spaceflight hardware
components can be machined using precise
computer-controlled equipment computer
aided manufacturing allows complex
machine tasks to be performed including
geometrical configurations with
intersections of curves and angles that
cannot be machined using traditional
methods spacecraft and instrument
components are electro chemically
processed to guard against oxidation and
to provide for thermal and electrical
conductivity and electrical resistance a
wide range of electroplating
capabilities is available including
nickel black nickel copper gold irrigate
anodized silver and electro polishing
for spacecraft thermal purposes
inorganic tanks and are not commercially
available are formulated and applied to
flight hardware composite coatings and
techniques are developed for the vacuum
deposition of metals on spacecraft
surfaces and experiments all the
protective risers for the astronauts
helmets are vacuum coated at dhadak
using a unique process plastic and
elastomer technology and fabrication
services for constructing and assembling
spacecraft and experimental components
are available the ultraviolet
transmitting plexiglass light pipes for
the energetic gamma ray experiment
telescope which will fly on the gamma
ray Observatory were manufactured at
Goddard Space Systems manufactured by
Goddard are qualified through a rigorous
verification program to assure flight
readiness components are subjected to a
wide range of tests and environmental
exposures that simulate peak loads to be
encountered during their lifetime after
a spacecraft has been fully integrated
the system is tested to make sure it
works under anticipated flight and
orbital conditions Goddard environmental
testing capabilities are broadly divided
into structural testing magnetic and
electromagnetic measurements and space
simulation structural testing includes
all phases of static and dynamic testing
covering vibration shock and orbit
retrieval and landing these tests are
conducted developing the integrity of
the flight structure
static load testing provides a solution
to the increasing need for step stress
testing of structure using hydraulic
loading systems acceleration testing
instructors is an alternative to static
load testing the launch base simulator
is a high-capacity centric view and
imposes loads on a structure typical of
actual fight acceleration rod launch
phase
similarly can exert acceleration forces
up to 30 G's on space structures
weighing up to 5,000 pounds a dynamic
test called mobile survey is also
conducted the major the response of
structures to vibratory load the modal
server allows for a direct comparison
with actual mobile parameters with the
mathematical model migration exciters
which generate a range of sine and
random forces over a frequency range of
five to two thousand Hertz and in
whether than 30 pounds to 35 thousand
pounds are they these exciter systems
similarly the types of vibration space
Hardware experience during launching and
again during re-entry aboard the space
shuttle to simulate the noise
environment during launching space
flight components are tested in an
acoustic facility which consists of a
reverberation chamber acoustic horns and
noise generators
noise levels up to 150 decibels which
would see the shuttle environment level
inside the shuttle payload Bay can be
generated in the acoustic facility after
structural loads testing is completed
the spacecraft is subjected to ultrafine
vacuum and chemical cleaning before it
enters the plenum to begin electronic
assembly and intubation cleanroom
standards at Goddard are among the
strictest in the aerospace industry the
particles such as dust or human dandruff
or contaminants such as grease or other
hydrocarbons migrate to sensitive
surfaces that could degrade components
or balance contaminants can compromise
the objective of a scientific instrument
or can be the direct cause of a total
spacecraft failure Goddard operates a
main cleanroom for spacecraft assembly
and several clean tents for the Assembly
of subsystems and instruments the
Goddard contamination control system
filters the air to prevent particles of
a size larger than one 300 the diameter
of a single human hair from entering the
cleanroom spacecraft and flight
components also undergo magnetic and
electromagnetic measurements and the
magnetic test facility technicians
perform simulations of the magnetic
field environment of near
torment or planetary space for
calibrating instruments and spacecraft
the magnetic test facility totally
constructed from non-magnetic materials
is the only one of its kind in the
United States making it a national
resource the Department of Defense and
several other government agencies as
well as private companies use the
facility shielded rooms are available
for electromagnetic interference and
compatibility testing of flight hardware
in a clean environment the frequency and
amplitude of intentionally generated
signals as well as spurious signals
produced by the hardware are measured in
the electromagnetic test facility
electromagnetic compatibility Commerce
which could interfere with spacecraft or
instrument operation are detected and
corrected spacecraft undergo their final
tests in the space environment
simulating although each of the many
working parts of a spacecraft have been
tested earlier at low levels higher than
those expected for their space mission
they are now asked to work again at
expected loans as one single spacecraft
system
under vacuum conditions spacecraft
experience a wide range of thermal
conditions from a minus 300 degrees
Fahrenheit to plus 200 degrees
Fahrenheit during the entire thermal
vacuum testing period spacecraft are
operated at extreme and normal
temperature just as if they were in
orbit Goddard has several thermal vacuum
chambers of various sizes up to 30 feet
in diameter by 40 feet high Goddard's
history in developing space systems for
orbital flight has been long and
distinguished Goddard is the only NASA
federal government field center with an
in-house capability of taking space
hardware from design through
manufacturing and testing with an eye
toward the future Goddard has been
assigned a major role for servicing
spacecraft systems under development
such as the Hubble Space Telescope grow
new ARS and future spacecraft such as
access
guards parking space craft servicing
on-orbit is an outgrowth of the Center's
success in the pioneering solar max
repair mission to accommodate future
spacecraft systems such as the Explorer
series as well as the co-orbiting and
polar platforms for Space Station
Goddard is planning to expand existing
integration and testing facilities for
this next generation of spacecraft for
work operations will be demonstrated
first on the ground in a clean
laboratory environment to protect the
flight hardware from contamination
facilities which provide a contamination
free environment are essential to the
reliable performance of the large
scientific payloads being design or
the Goddard Space Flight Center stands
ready to take the next major step in
space research in 1984 President Reagan
permitted the United States to having a
permanently manned space station
operating within a decade the president
said that a space station was needed for
peaceful economic and scientific game
space station is NASA's next logical
step in America's space program Goddard
is planning facilities to support NASA's
space science program in the 1990s and
space exploration well into the 21st
century
when pioneering men and women from many
nations will work and live together in
space