A full-scale model of the James Webb Space Telescope, the planned successor to Hubble, is on the circuit -- making appearances at science conferences and festivals around the world. Science Friday visited the observatory and spoke to its handlers who were in town for the World Science Festival in New York City's Battery Park.
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a large, infrared-optimized space telescope, scheduled for launch in 2014. JWST will find the first galaxies that formed in the early Universe, connecting the Big Bang to our own Milky Way Galaxy. JWST will peer through dusty clouds to see stars forming planetary systems, connecting the Milky Way to our own Solar System. JWST's instruments will be designed to work primarily in the infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum, with some capability in the visible range.
JWST will have a large mirror, 6.5 meters (21.3 feet) in diameter and a sunshield the size of a tennis court. Both the mirror and sunshade won't fit onto the rocket fully open, so both will fold up and open once JWST is in outer space. JWST will reside in an orbit about 1.5 million km (1 million miles) from the Earth.
The James Webb Space Telescope was named after a former NASA Administrator.
NASA should send some engineers to read and consult the a2k investigation into women's purses [http://able2know.org/topic/153490-1] thread to have them get the experts of packing a lot of fragile junk (cosmetics and such) into such a small space).
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