NASA's X-ray and Cryogenic Facility (XRCF) is an adaptable space environment simulation facility that has been enabling technology development and pre-flight verification of space missions since 1991. As the Agency's premier cryogenic optical test facility, the XRCF enables the development and pre-flight evaluation of large direct-incidence telescope mirrors and structures in relevant thermal environments to 20 Kelvin. As the world's largest x-ray optical test facility, the XRCF enables development, performance, and calibration testing of grazing-incidence x-ray optics, detectors and telescopes.
Since construction in 1989, the facility's capability bas been utilized in the development and verification activities of NASA flagship missions such as the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the James Webb Space Telescope. Technology evaluation and readiness demonstrations have been performed on advanced x-ray mirrors, composite cryogenic structures, advanced video guidance systems, solar thermal propulsion inflatable structures, and advanced UVOIR mirrors. Key to the XRCF success is the optimized, highly trained, technically diverse, flight hardware qualified crew of the test engineers and technicians that are dedicated to customer satisfaction.