NIRCam optical bench assembly qualification vibration testing

The Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) is the primary imaging instrument on the James Webb Space Telescope. The primary structure for NIRCam is called the Optical Bench Assembly (OBA). The OBA is a bonded Beryllium structure designed to operate at 35K. The structure has recently undergone thermal cycling to 35K followed by structural qualification vibration testing. Analytical predictions were made of the structural performance during vibration. These predictions closely matched the actual performance. This paper summarizes the build and assembly of the OBA, and focuses on the qualification thermal and structural testing of the OBA. The qualification testing is described and pre-test analysis is presented and compared with test results.