NASA Media Event of Jan. 29, 2016, About James Webb Space Telescope

Summary: NASA is hosting a news media event on the James Webb Space Telescope at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, Jan. 29, 2016.

artist's conception of James Webb Space Telescope: Northrop Grumman, CC BY 2.0, via NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) anticipates holding a news media event Jan. 29, 2016, at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, regarding the James Webb Space Telescope.

Years of design and of manufacturing bring the $8.8-billion James Webb Space Telescope closer to the final test flight prefatory to October 2018’s launch date. Three national teams of Canadian Space Agency, European Space Agency and NASA technicians consider final test flights and on-the-ground simulations critical to pre-launch and post-launch successes.

Cutting-edge technology designed 18 hexagonal mirrors, each 4.2 feet (1.28 meters) across and 88 pounds (39.92 kilograms) heavy, for assemblage into a primary 32-foot (6.5-meter) mirror. It enables the James Webb Space Telescope to view what the 8-foot (2.44-meter) primary Hubble mirror cannot access.

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, furnishes a clean room for assembling segments, whose completion will allow the primary mirror to access 13.5-billion-year-old objects. The primary mirror gets the name Optical Telescope Element while four instruments operating in mid-infrared, near and visible light are designated the Integrated Science Instrument Module.

Infrared capabilities have particular importance since the seven times weaker penetrating power precludes Hubble’s access to planetary and stellar formations whose large dust clouds resist light. It is the gold coating that covers the ultra-lightweight beryllium used in making each of the primary mirror’s six-sided mirror segments that capture faint infrared light.

A secondary mirror, one of the 18 segments, joins all the primary mirror’s light-gathering for reflection to the instrument module.

NASA keeps a log whose task completions acknowledge over 1,000 technicians from over 17 countries and ensure Guiana Space Centre’s timely launch near Kourou, French Guiana.

A successful launch leads to the James Webb Space Telescope orbiting 1 million miles (1.5 kilometers) further than the Earth’s 100-million-mile (150-million-kilometer) revolution from the sun. Location around L2, second of Joseph-Louis Lagrange’s (1736 to 1813) five points, maintains the James Webb Space Telescope in same-position relativity to the Earth and sun. The James Webb Space Telescope needs the combination of solar and terrestrial gravitational pulls to orbit L2 in six months and the sun in one Earth-year.

A five-layer sunshield and a telescope sunshade offer protection from the heat and light of the Earth, moon and sun.

Helium and passive cooling provide 7-Kelvin (minus 447 degrees Fahrenheit, minus 266 degrees Celsius) and 39-Kelvin (minus 389 degrees Fahrenheit, minus 234 degrees Celsius) temperatures for mid-infrared and near-infrared instruments. The sun-shield qualifies as parasol and sunshade in keeping the James Webb Space Telescope at operating temperatures below 50 Kelvin (minus 370 degrees Fahrenheit, minus 223 degrees Celsius). Mission success requires reliable viewing of the early universe, galactic assemblages, planetary and stellar births and solar system evolutions since L2 is outside shuttle service range.

Reliable 24/7 viewing suggests to John Mather, project scientist at NASA, that “Every time we build bigger or better pieces of equipment, we find something astonishing.”

Friday’s media event takes reporters to clean-room views of the mirror segments and on-site interviews with NASA engineers and scientists.

How It Works @HowItWorksmag via Twitter Jan. 26, 2016

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

James Webb Space Telescope: Northrop Grumman, CC BY 2.0, via NASA @ http://www.nasa.gov/press-release/update-nasa-invites-media-for-live-interviews-on-james-webb-space-telescope

"How will the James Webb Space Telescope change the way we see the universe.": How It Works @HowItWorksmag via Twitter Jan. 26, 2016 @ https://twitter.com/HowItWorksmag/status/692044404400361473

For further information:

Aamir, Sumayah. 26 January 2016. “Hubble Successor Near Completion.” I4u > News > Latest Science News.
Available @ http://www.i4u.com/2016/01/103808/hubble-successor-james-webb-telescope-almost-done

Amos, Jonathan 26 January 2016. “James Webb: Hubble Successor Maintains Course.” BBC News > Science > Science & Environment.
Available @ http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-35403361

How It Works @HowItWorksmag. 26 January 2016. "How will the James Webb Space Telescope change the way we see the universe." Twitter.
Available @ https://twitter.com/HowItWorksmag/status/692044404400361473

“The James Webb Space Telescope.” Hubble Site > The Future: Webb Telescope.
Available @ http://webbtelescope.org/webb_telescope/

James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). 23 March 2010. "The James Webb Space Telescope: Mission Trailer." YouTube.
Available @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMRamEFAQU4

Poladian, Charles. 29 December 2015. “James Webb Space Telescope Update: Hubble Successor Halfway Complete, Will Peer into Early Universe.” International Business Times > Technology.
Available @ http://www.ibtimes.com/james-webb-space-telescope-update-hubble-successor-halfway-complete-will-peer-early-2242469

Warner, Kelsey. 25 January 2016. “Hubble’s Successor Nearly Done: Why Do We Need an $8 Billion Telescope?” The Christian Science Monitor > Science.
Available @ http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2016/0125/Hubble-s-successor-nearly-done-Why-do-we-need-an-8-billion-telescope