Webb Telescope's "Heart" Unscathed

What always concerns me after such tests is: did they weaken anything during the test that will now actually break when it's ..... a million miles from Earth.

These tests don't "ensure that the equipment will continue to work." What they tell you is that the equipment survived this test, not necessarily what it will do in the future, when it's on-site a gozillion miles away.

It's always a fine line when doing these kinds of tests, always; a line between finding weak components that will fail early on versus setting the stage for future failures that may not otherwise occur had the tests not been so rigourous.

Not quite a Catch-22, but close.

Sort of similar to way there is no scientific probe (experiment) that does not somehow perturb the system being measured.

I too wonder if putting the thing through all that stress, now to be combined with launch vibration, and more thermal stress is all that great of an idea? Can't these people actually calculate and model this sort of thing on a mock-up first? Maybe even test individual components?

Cyclic thermal stresses are the real killers in any engineered system.

"Sort of similar to way there is no scientific probe (experiment) that does not somehow perturb the system being measured."

Very much so, and so there is no amount of testing that will ensure the system will not fail at some point (to use the OP's wording); a latent failure that was induced by earlier testing, testing without which the failure would not have otherwise occurred. Such assurance is not possible, not even in principle.

Simulations simulate the response of the design, they do not simulate failures due to unforeseen defects in materials or workmanship in the actual device.

It all seems redundant, and spiraling inward upon itself, does it not? When I was kid, we just made the dern rocket and launched it with the lizzard inside to see what would happen, or if the lizzard made it back to terra firma without sacrificing himself to science.

Sadly, my field mouse did not. In spite of my assuring Lloyd's of London that the third stage had been thoroughly tested, Mr. Mouse did not survive the 'chute not deploying and its charge blowing the third stage apart.

ESA don't bother insuring their payloads, as a matter of policy. They know sh!t happens but they also save a pile in premiums by not buying insurance - enough to self-insure their spacecraft.

Sorry about the mouse. It must be the one my cat dragged up on the back porch two days ago.

The only thing we tested on our "payload" module prior to launch was the folding of our parachute, and that it would deploy safely with a small firecracker. OMG, can I still PC say fire-cracker?

Who would have thought 35 years ago (1979) that most of the good words in English would have rendered unusable by the PC police in the next century?

[Baldrick] "I have a cunning plan..."

[Blackadder] "Oh! Another one? Do tell."

[Baldrick] "Are you sure you want to hear it? It's not politically correct."

[Blackadder] "Oh! By all means! Do spill the beans, Baldrick!"

[Baldrick] "Are you sure? They're still on the stove."

[Blackadder] "Not those beans, my dear Baldrick; your latest Cunning Plan. Out with it! And, please, when have you ever known me to be politically correct? Ever?"

[Baldrick] "Well, there was that one time, in front of the Queen, when you said .."

[Blackadder] "I was delerious. Plague and all that. Now, fess up, old chum. With all speed, please."

[Baldrick] "I propose we gather all those PC types and launch them into the Sun. Noonish, when it's hottest."

[Blackadder] "I must say, old boy, that is easily the best Cunning Plan that's ever crossed that interminable gap between your lovely and rather large ears but, what if the craft fails? From having been too thoroughly tested for example? What then?"

[Baldrick] "Who cares? By the way, supper's ready."

Next Week on Blackadder: Politicians Next to Experience Orbital Mechanics First-Hand. Stay tuned!

*** The End ***

LMFAO! (laughing my fat arse off).

Rather reminds me of a few instances at my present and some previous jobs where regular safety assurance testing of certain gear wore the damn stuff out to the point of regularly failing when actually being used as it was intended for for no good reason.