Wilson Case, leading makers of custom hard cases, has been tapped to design and construct a specialized transport case for a state-of-the-
Beryllium was the selected mirror technology because of its proven performance under the extremely low temperatures of deep space. It is the height of a two-story house, rigid and unable to bend more than the width of a human hair, yet so sensitive that it can detect the first light of the universe from 11 billion years ago.
The constructed case protected the mirror during transit to and from the testing facility during the development stage of the telescope. Constructing custom hard cases like this is no easy feat, and the design process was extremely laborious, as no part of the case could touch the mirror at any time. This resulted in a plate-mounted design wherein a plate was mounted to the inside of the case and the mirror was mounted onto that plate. The construction of the outside case factored in weight distribution, shock and vibration, and was created to act as a pillow for the interior case and the fragile mirror.
Wilson Case has been rendering its services to the United States government, armed forces and prime government contractors for almost 30 years. They have designed and built custom hard cases for jet engine parts, airplane windshields, weapons and mobility cases for rapid deployment of troops.
