According to the optical requirements of a space camera, a calibration mechanism in the form of a worm gear driven cantilever beam is designed, and a stop is added at the cantilever beam's end for limiting its amplitude. A detailed finite element model considering the clearance between moving parts in the mechanism and the preload of bearing is established using MSC.Patran & Nastran. By comparing the vibration test and analysis results, the stiffness and the dynamic environment adaptability of the mechanism is investigated and the first-order resonant frequency of the calibration mechanism is much larger than 100Hz which is high enough for the telescope's structure. Finally, the result shows that the error between the analysis result and the test data is within 10%, and it is verified that the calibration mechanism scheme has higher stiffness. ? 2019 Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.