James Webb Space Telescope: NASA completes deployment of its most daunting project

Last Updated09/01/2022

As it prepares to explore cosmic history, NASA's James Webb Space Telescope finished a two-week deployment phase of its 21-foot, gold-coated primary mirror panel on Saturday.
The James Webb Space Telescope is an unprecedented mission that is on the precipice of seeing the light from the first galaxies and discovering the mysteries of our universe.

JWST is a joint venture between the US (Nasa), European (Esa) and Canadian space agencies (CSA).
It is a space-based infrared observatory that will complement and enhance the Hubble Space Telescope's findings by providing extended wavelength coverage and increased sensitivity.
Webb was formerly known as the “Next Generation Space Telescope” (NGST) and it was renamed in 2002 after a former NASA administrator, James Webb.
It will be a large infrared telescope with an approximately 6.5 meter primary mirror.

It will look deeper into the cosmos – and thus further back in time – than is possible with Hubble.
It will do this with a much bigger mirror (6.5m in diameter versus 2.4m) and instruments that are tuned to the infrared.
Scientists hope this set-up can detect the light from the very first population of stars in the Universe to switch on more than 13.5 billion years ago.

The Hubble Space Telescope orbits around the Earth at an altitude of ~570 km above it.
Webb will not actually orbit the Earth, instead it will sit at the Earth-Sun L2 Lagrange point,5 million km away.
Webb's solar shield will block the light from the Sun, Earth, and Moon at the L2 point, allowing the telescope to stay cool, which is critical for an infrared telescope.