Image: NASA
More In This Article
-
The Best Science Writing Online 2012
Showcasing more than fifty of the most provocative, original, and significant online essays from 2011, The Best Science Writing Online 2012 will change the way...
Read More »
The Hubble Space Telescope is an iconic observatory, a triumph of space science that may be the most famous unmanned spacecraft since Sputnik. Hubble's renown is certainly well-deserved, but the spacecraft is aging—it will mark its 20th anniversary of reaching orbit in April. Hubble's services are still in tremendous demand, because it operates above the bulk of Earth's obfuscating atmosphere and so offers astronomers their clearest view of the distant universe. In 2014, when another large, space-borne observatory is set to be launched, the overworked Hubble should finally have some company.
Named for NASA's second administrator, who led the agency during the development of the Apollo program, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will dwarf its predecessor by most measures. (The project is a collaboration among NASA and the European and Canadian space agencies.) Nearly twice as long as Hubble, and boasting a light-collecting mirror several times larger, JWST will also venture farther afield than its elder counterpart. Whereas Hubble circles Earth at an altitude of less than 600 kilometers, JWST will set up shop 1.5 million kilometers away, well beyond the orbit of the moon.
During a February lecture at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, Jon Arenberg of Northrop Grumman, the prime contractor on the project, presented an overview of the telescope's mission and an update on its developmental progress as JWST moves from the design phase to construction and testing. Arenberg, Northrop Grumman's deputy for JWST systems engineering, paid special attention to the challenges inherent in building such a massive and complex machine—and then folding it into a rocket's cramped payload capsule.
Read about some of those design challenges—and some of the remarkable feats that JWST should be capable of—in a slide show of images from the telescope's construction.
Slide Show: 6 Fun Facts about the JWST
See what we're tweeting about
22 Comments
Add CommentAwe inspiring photos! Awhile ago, Jonathan Arenberg (of NGST) reported on efforts to perfect a technique on a laser desorption and thermal emission spectroscopic that could be used to detect and analyze the abundances of organic and inorganic compounds in the surfaces of Jupiters icy moons. Perhaps the time is soon!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"JWST will operate at a second Lagrangian point, or L2, a location in space 1.5 million kilometers away where the gravity of the sun and that of Earth balance out ..."
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thissomehow this does not make sense according to the slide. Wouldn't Earth and Sun both be pulling in the same direction?
If the telescope operates at such a distance from Earth, how would mainainance be performed, such as was done on Hubble?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisL2 can be a bit tricky to understand, until you remember that there are also centrifugal forces to consider. Wikipedia has a good explanation.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhy not make a hexagonal tube shaped (single mirror, near-orbit) space telescope that can be made larger by simply keep sending a new copy to orbit and attaching to others?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAs long as they are employing more and more people im happy no what they build.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHopefully whoever built the Hubble won't be involved in this project, otherwise it is a near certitude that they will flub the mission: permanently.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"somehow this does not make sense according to the slide. Wouldn't Earth and Sun both be pulling in the same direction?"
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisYes, they bungled the description on that one. The earth and sun are both pulling in the direction of the sun, and the L2 point is the point where the net force results in a one-year orbital period, thus keeping the alignment of earth/sun/telescope constant.
wow the ultimate Webb Cam
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWow, the ultimate Webbcam
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe illustration correctly represents the L2 position. The Lagrangian points are nicely described by Wikipedia, as msadesign suggested earlier.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMaybe this can be most simply understood as a small body orbiting the enormous mass of the Sun, stabilized by the intermediate Earth.
The key is that the small body's orbital position is constant in relation to both of the larger masses.
Nice to see Herschel get a mention
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMCMalkemus- Your statement is false .
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe small (very small ) deviation of the mirror from the designed shape, the problem was solved by installing a small correcting mirror into the optics.
A very ingenious solution, and one that has made Hubble into the best optical telescope in the world.
If I recall correctly (IIRC for you IM'ers) it was Kodak? that did the Hubble.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThey used to make film, too.
Reflecting on view 6/6 if the distance between us and the big bang is 13.7 billion LY,can we add the 'distance in front' of us to get the total age of the visible universe?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPlease an answer to this.
frankboase2@gmail.com
elderlybloke - Fortunately the Hubble was corrected on a space mission to lower Earth orbit - It has been a fantastic, revolutionary tool.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHowever, this satellite will be orbiting the Sun beyond the Moon's orbit of Earth. Any repair mission would be much more difficult. Hopefully they get this one right the first time.
I think you're right. The description the author gives is for L1. At L2 the orbital force of the telescope cancels out the combined gravitational force of the sun and earth (+moon, etc.)
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisplenum - According to Wikipedia, at east, all 5 Lagrangian points are stable positions for a small body in relation to two massive objects. In those positions the directional gravitational and centrifugal forces effectively cancel each other. Please see:
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thishttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagrangian_point
I don't find a definition for 'orbital force'. Were referring to centrifugal forces?
as telescopes probe deeper and deeper isn't it not logical to expect in a couple of decades to see Big Bang itself ?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisHow do we know we will be seeing " back to the first stars in the universe". We don't know that we have seen even close to the outer edge of the universe. Do we even know or believe there is an edge to the universe? But I agree, "wow the ultimate Webb Cam". Such images should be magnificent, it's hard to believe there could be better images than have come from Hubble?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI have a feeling that the JWST will make the most important discovery in the history of mankind - detecting a planet other than Earth that harbors life, and that too before 2020.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thiswaiting for this launch!!!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this