Feature
Optical Testing and Verification on HST
The formal investigation of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging problem involved reconstructing the events that occurred from 1978-1981 during manufacture (build), assembly, and testing phases of the HST primary mirror. The optical error in the HST brought the role of quality assurance (QA) into question, since the problem remained undiscovered before launch. From an examination of the evidence, it was clear that there were specific QA requirements in the contract for building the Optical Telescope Assembly (OTA) and that an "OTA Product Assurance Plan" was written and released.
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