The James Webb Space Telescope (sometimes called JWST) will be a large infrared telescope with a 6.5-meter primary mirror. The project is working to a 2018 launch date.
The Webb will be the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It will study every phase in the history of our Universe, ranging from the first luminous glows after the Big Bang, to the formation of solar systems capable of supporting life on planets like Earth, to the evolution of our own Solar System.
Webb was formerly known as the "Next Generation Space Telescope" (NGST); it was renamed in Sept. 2002 after a former NASA administrator, James Webb. |
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Webb is an international collaboration between NASA,
the European
Space Agency (ESA), and the Canadian Space
Agency (CSA). The NASA Goddard
Space Flight Center is managing the development effort. The main industrial partner
is Northrop Grumman; the Space
Telescope Science Institute will operate Webb after launch.
Several innovative technologies have been developed for Webb. These
include a folding, segmented primary mirror, adjusted to shape after launch;
ultra-lightweight beryllium optics; detectors able to record extremely weak
signals, microshutters that enable programmable object selection for the spectrograph;
and a cryocooler for cooling the mid-IR detectors to 7K.
In July 2008 NASA confirmed the Webb project to proceed into its implementation phase, and the project conducted a major mission review in March 2010. Here is a summary of the current mission status.
There will be four science instruments on
Webb: the Near InfraRed Camera (NIRCam), the Near InfraRed Spectrograph (NIRSpec), the Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI), and the Fine Guidance Sensor/ Near InfraRed Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (FGS-NIRISS). Webb's instruments will be designed
to work primarily in the infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum, with some capability in the visible range. It will be sensitive to light from 0.6
to 28 micrometers in wavelength.
Webb has four main science themes:
The End of the Dark Ages: First Light and Reionization, The Assembly of Galaxies,
The Birth of Stars and Protoplanetary Systems, and Planetary Systems and
the Origins of Life.
