Launching in 2018 will be the successor to the legendary Hubble Space Telescope, called the James Webb Space Telescope, or JWST. What will the telescope do?
JWST will help us understand the Universe. It will study the timespan from our solar system’s evolution all the way back to the first glows after the Big Bang.
More powerful than the current and awe-inspiring Hubble Space Telescope, JWST has seven times more light collection area than Hubble. How will something so large fit inside a rocket for its launch to space? The telescope will be folded during its ascent.
Earlier this month, the Director of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) where JWST is located, Christopher J. Scolese, provided an update on JWST’s progress.
“Today we’re celebrating the fact that our telescope is finished and we’re about to prove that it works,” he said.
JWST. Credits: NASA/Chris Gunn
With integration of the telescope finished and testing in progress, the program is closing in on its launch date. A test to measure the shape of the main mirror was recently conducted – the Center of Curvature test. The data from the test will be evaluated to ensure perfect alignment of the mirrors before more tests simulate the launch environment.
To get an idea of JWST’s ability to record detail, Dr. John Mather, senior astrophysicist at GSFC told the audience during the update, “If you were a bumblebee hovering out at the distance of the moon, we would be able to see you.”
The James Webb Space Telescope will travel 1 million miles beyond Earth, settling into a heliocentric orbit. By establishing this orbit, JWST will be able to use the Earth as shade from the sun. The telescope will study how galaxies, stars and planets formed.
Northrop Grumman, a founding member of the Coalition, is the prime contractor for JWST. Learn more about the telescope at NASA.gov.