The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will not only be the successor to the legendary Hubble Space Telescope, but the planet’s leading observatory for the next decade.
Out in deep space, JWST will help us answer some deep questions.
Unlike the Hubble Space Telescope, JWST will operate in orbit around the sun at 1 million miles from Earth. It will be located at a point called L2, and the sun shield of JWST will protect the telescope from the heat and light of the Sun, Earth and moon.
On JWST, the primary mirror is just over 21 feet across. Why such a big mirror? So it can peer back in time and observe young galaxies. It will let us measure light from extremely distant galaxies – more than 13 billion light years away!
Check out its size relative to that of the Hubble Space Telescope:
By observing infrared light, this telescope will enable us to see through dust clouds to where stars and planets are born. For planetary systems, JWST will measure chemical and physical properties as well as evaluate their potential for life.
JWST will help us understand how galaxies evolved from their formation until now, and look for the first galaxies or luminous objects that were formed after the Big Bang.
This month, vibration testing on the new telescope will resume to make sure it will withstand the vibration during launch.
During routine testing last month, there was an unexpected response from several of the devices. The role of these devices is to find small changes in the structure’s motion. When accelerometers picked up the unexpected responses, the test shut itself down in a fraction of a second to protect the hardware.
After the unexpected response, engineers and scientists have been looking into the cause and have successfully put the telescope through three low-level vibration tests. The structure has also gone through visual and ultrasonic examinations – they show that the structure is sound.
In October of 2018, JWST will launch from French Guiana on top of an Ariane 5 rocket and will be available for astronomers around the world. JWST is an international collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). The main industrial partner, Northrop Grumman, is a founding member of the Coalition.
Learn more about JWST at NASA.gov.