Over twenty years ago NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope team set out to build “the most powerful telescope that anyone has ever put in space…” according to Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. He believes that this particular design will deliver on that promise.
On March 11, the Webb team completed a comprehensive test for the telescope to gauge its performance. The assessment showed that it is performing above expectations and has met or exceeded the goals it was built to achieve.
The Webb telescope design uses segmented mirrors, which is the first telescope in space to do so. Some of the largest ground-based telescopes use the segmented primary mirrors. Using this design in space makes it a pioneer. The mirrors are so large that they were designed to be folded up in order to fit inside the rocket that launched it into space. Once in space, the mirrors are designed to unfold and adjust with incredible accuracy, which then form into a single mirror surface.
This successful design is predicted to be instrumental in helping to view things in space that have never been viewed before, which may help in solving mysteries of distant worlds, other stars, and space structures.
The full imagery and science data will be released this summer.
The Webb Space Telescope is an international program led by NASA and also its partners at both the European and Canadian Space Agencies.