James Webb Space Telescope Essay

James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)

Introduction

As the designated successor to Hubble, NASA’s James Web Space Telescope (JWST) is scheduled to launch in 2018, where it is expected to achieve an orbit at the second Langrangian point almost 1.5 million kilometres from earth. JWST comes as a collaborative effort between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) to develop a large infra-red observatory capable taking space exploration to new boundaries. JWST will build upon the capabilities of its predecessors, offering the unprecedented ability to observe faint wavelengths of Infra-red light originating from astronomical objects during the early universe. JWST has been appointed to explore and address astronomical science relating to the four following themes (objectives):

• The End of the Dark Ages: First light and Re-ionization

• The Assembly of the Galaxies

• The Birth of Stars and Protolanetary Systems

• Planetary Systems and the Origins of Life

JWST, using its large 6.5-meter gold plated primary mirror, will capture distant infrared light and study it using four state-of-the-art on-board imaging and spectroscopic instruments. Unlike the Hubble space

Resolving Hubble’s design issue, resulted in an additional three years of planning for a servicing mission (STS-61) to correct the issue and replace the flawed mirror; the mission also performed additional upgrades to on-board instrumentation. Observations from both Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes soon revelled need for a design capable of observing redshirted light in the infra-red spectrum, a remnant of the early universe. The realisation lead to the development of a large mirror, passively cooled, Infra-red space observatory; originally named Next Gen Space Telescope – now known as