Posted on 05/10/2007 5:50:43 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON (AFP) - NASA unveiled Thursday a model of the massive space telescope that will replace the aging Hubble in 2013 and allow scientists to observe the formation of the first galaxies at the dawning of the universe.
The US National Aeronautics and Space Agency displayed in Washington a full-scale model of the James Webb (news, bio, voting record) Space Telescope, which scientists hope will peer back to the first stars after the "Big Bang" and the formation of solar systems capable of hosting life.
JWST, a joint project of the US, European and Canadian space agencies, will be three times bigger than Hubble, with a hexagonal mirror 6.5 meters (21.3 feet) in diameter and five-layer sunshield the size of a tennis court
The probe being built by Northrop Grumman Corp. will include 10 new technologies, including an infrared camera and a spectrometer kept at an extremely low temperature for optimum performance. The telescope is expected to have a 10-year lifespan.
The model was put on display Thursday in front of Washington's National Air and Space Museum.
Launched 17 years ago, Hubble revolutionized astronomy by peering deep into the universe, beaming back dazzling images free of the distortions from Earth's atmosphere.
Orbiting 575 kilometers (360 miles) above Earth, the Hubble has enabled scientists to better measure the age and origins of the universe, observe distant supernovas, and identify and study bodies in and outside the solar system.
While Hubble was able to peer back to one billion years after the Big Bang, the new telescope, with mirrors that will capture six times more light than its predecessor, will look even further into the origins of the universe, officials said.
"Clearly we need a much bigger telescope to go back much further in time to see the very birth of the universe," Edward Weiler, director of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, told a news conference.
Hubble, along with space telescopes Chandra and Spitzer, have shown that the universe is hiding many mysteries, but they are unable to solve them, said Matt Mountain, director of the Space Telescope Science Institute near Washington.
"We cannot penetrate the darkness of the time when the first galaxies were born," Mountain said.
The current telescopes are also unable to provide answers about black holes and the enigmatic dark matter, he said.
With its more powerful mirrors, the new telescope "for the first time will send images from that dark age, high resolution pictures," he said.
The 4.5 billion dollar James Webb Space Telescope will be folded to fit inside a European Ariane V rocket in 2013 and will unfurl 1.5 million kilometers (0.93 million miles) from Earth.
NASA plans to launch a space shuttle mission next year to upgrade and maintain Hubble in order to keep it operational through 2013.
Without a repair mission, the telescope would shut down in 2009 or even earlier, dealing a blow to scientists who have relied on Hubble's images to better understand the universe.
A full scale model of the James Webb Space Telescope sits on the National Mall outside the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. NASA unveiled Thursday a model of the massive space telescope that will replace the aging Hubble in 2013 and allow scientists to observe the formation of the first galaxies at the dawning of the universe.(AFP/Tim Sloan)
http://www.jwst.nasa.gov/about.html
JWST was formerly known as the “Next Generation Space Telescope” (NGST). JWST was renamed in Sept. 2002 after a former NASA administrator, James Webb.
I guess I don’t understand why a $4.5B telescope will only last 10 years.
I sure hope this wasn’t named after Senator James Webb. Please tell me it isn’t.
http://www.jwst.nasa.gov/comparison.html
How does JWST contrast with HST?
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has been called the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). But what does this really mean? How will JWST be different than HST? There are some similarities - both telescopes are (or will be) in space. They both seek to improve our understanding of processes like star birth and the evolution of galaxies. However, there are many differences between HST and JWST.
For starters, JWST will primarily look at the Universe in the infrared, while HST studies it at optical and ultra-violet wavelengths. JWST also has a much bigger mirror than HST. This larger light collecting area means that JWST can peer farther back into time than HST is capable of doing. HST is in a very close orbit around the earth, while JWST will be 1.5 million miles away at the second Lagrange (L2) point.
At .93 million miles they better get it right the first time, I don’t think we can effectively repair it like Hubble.
it could be worse... They could have called it the “Webb Hubble II”
Nope. :-)
JWST was renamed in Sept. 2002 after a former NASA administrator, James Webb.
It isn’t. ;) This James Webb is the guy who ran NASA in the early years.
Whew!
Yup.
I like this telescope already!
At first I thought you said James Woods Space Telescope.
Cool! Hope they triple check the mirrors before launch this time.
It's a simple answer really. 10 years is what it they believe it will take to build a $12.8B model to replace it! /SARC
Batteries, fuel, and orbit degradation.
I did all of the software for the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) on Spitzer. Sadly, I get no royalties for all of the pictures...
Typical bureaucracy, naming it after Webb. The successor to the Hubble telescope should be named for Hubble’s protege and successor, Allen Sandage.
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