March 12, 2010 | 21 comments
By John Matson
![ORBITAL ORIGAMI 6 Fun Facts about the James Webb Space Telescope [Slide Show] :: The mammoth infrared obse](/media/gallery/thumbs/53658848-B8D0-7F52-FA5CF7A3ACD8ACD5_1.jpg){kind=small}
![MADE (TO BE) IN THE SHADE 6 Fun Facts about the James Webb Space Telescope [Slide Show] :: The mammoth infrared obse](/media/gallery/thumbs/53658848-B8D0-7F52-FA5CF7A3ACD8ACD5_2.jpg){kind=small}
![MIRROR, MIRROR 6 Fun Facts about the James Webb Space Telescope [Slide Show] :: The mammoth infrared obse](/media/gallery/thumbs/53658848-B8D0-7F52-FA5CF7A3ACD8ACD5_3.jpg){kind=small}
![DEEP SPACE 6 Fun Facts about the James Webb Space Telescope [Slide Show] :: The mammoth infrared obse](/media/gallery/thumbs/53658848-B8D0-7F52-FA5CF7A3ACD8ACD5_4.jpg){kind=small}
![ONE SHOT TO GET IT RIGHT (MAYBE) 6 Fun Facts about the James Webb Space Telescope [Slide Show] :: The mammoth infrared obse](/media/gallery/thumbs/53658848-B8D0-7F52-FA5CF7A3ACD8ACD5_5.jpg){kind=small}
![FIRST LIGHT 6 Fun Facts about the James Webb Space Telescope [Slide Show] :: The mammoth infrared obse](/media/gallery/thumbs/53658848-B8D0-7F52-FA5CF7A3ACD8ACD5_6.jpg){kind=small}
![ORBITAL ORIGAMI 6 Fun Facts about the James Webb Space Telescope [Slide Show] :: The mammoth infrared obse](/media/gallery/53658848-B8D0-7F52-FA5CF7A3ACD8ACD5_1.jpg)
CLICK TO ENLARGE + NASA
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will be a giant—its multilayered sun shield stretches 22 meters, nearly twice the length of the Hubble Space Telescope. In order to fit inside the aerodynamic payload capsule on top of an Ariane 5 heavy-lift rocket, both JWST's sun shield and 6.5-meter mirror will be meticulously folded—its planned deployment in space looks like nothing so much as a butterfly unfurling from its cocoon. The photograph above shows a full-scale model of JWST with telescope team members at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
Innovation is the key to a better future. Enter your own World Changing Ideas videos in our contest. For examples, see "World Changing Ideas," Scientific American; December 2009.
12 Events That Will Change Everything, Made InteractiveThis Web-only article is a special rich-media presentation of the feature, "12 Events That Will Change Everything," which appears in the June 2010 issue of Scientific American. The presentation was created by Zemi Media. Find all our other interactive offerings here.
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