Madison Kwiecinski 

News Editor 

Mvk5945@psu.edu

NASA is planning to launch its James Webb Space Telescope into orbit Dec. 18, 2021, which will serve as the primary deep space observatory for at least the next decade. The telescope has recently and successfully completed rigorous testing, which allowed NASA to finally set the launch date. 

The highly complex telescope is currently at Northrop Grumman’s facilities in Redondo Beach, California in its final position before it is set up for launch. The Webb telescope will be taken into space aboard a European Space Agency, or ESA, Ariane 5 rocket. It will also be the largest telescope ever launched into space. 

This telescope is the successor to the Hubble Space telescope, and is therefore intended to expand on Hubble’s discoveries, using improved light sensitivity and extended wavelength coverage. Once in space, the telescope is expected to travel an additional one million miles from earth. From that position, it should be able to help astronomers understand how young galaxies are formed, how new stars take shape, and to observe an abundance of other celestial bodies and phenomena in our solar system. 

“Webb will be able to see galaxies as they looked a couple hundred million years after the Big Bang,” NASA astrophysicist Jane Rigby stated to NPR.

The plan for this telescope has been long in the making, with the original vision being from 1996. A team of 1,200 scientists, technicians, and engineers spanning across the world have worked on the gigantic space observatory. People from 14 different countries and 28 U.S. states have come together over the course of the last 25 years to make this possible. 

The telescope was a complex project to build, with many significant different parts meant to enhance the data it is capable of gathering. The observatory will use an extensive mirror set up consisting of 18 hexagonal mirrors assembled in a honeycomb shape that spans over 21 feet across. The mirror’s size had to be this large, because how much a telescope can see is related to the size of the mirror. In addition to their size, the mirrors are also lined with a microscopically thin layer of gold which is meant to help reflect infrared light. These mirrors will collect more than 6 times the amount the Hubble telescope was capable of. 

Once the telescope launches in December, it will have to wait 35 days before aligning its mirrors to view faraway galaxies and deep space. This is due to the telescopes needing to cool down after the launch and to avoid any potential damage from the heat of the launch. 

This telescope will make history in December when it launches, as it is by far the most advanced observationary tool we have ever sent into space. 

Gregory L. Robinson, Webb’s program director at NASA Headquarters in Washington said, “I am inspired by our dedicated team and our global partnerships that have made this incredible endeavor possible.