NASA Introduces Hubble’s Successor May 11, 2007
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A massive replacement for the ageing Hubble telescope has been unveiled by NASA, which claims this one will allow it to see back to the birth of the universe.
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) mightn’t have the snappy name that Hubble does but it is three times bigger, measuring 24m x 12m and fixed with a massive 6.5m mirror that will capture six times as much light. The scope will also sit much further away from Earth at 1.5 million kilometers – Hubble is just 570km away.
It sports a large sunshield to keep it cold. NASA says it will have 10 new technologies onboard, including an infrared camera and a spectrometer kept at very low temperature for the best performance. This £2.28bn eye in the sky will be able to see back to the Big Bang, scientists claim. The 17-year old Hubble, which has had some recent problems, is restricted to seeing roughly one billion years after Big Bang. JWST is also expected to provide the first high resolution images of black holes and dark matter.
“Clearly we need a much bigger telescope to go back much further in time to see the very birth of the universe,” said Edward Weiler, director of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre in Maryland.
The JWST will be folded inside a European Ariane V rocket for launch in 2013, unfurling – hopefully – at 1.5 million kilometres from Earth.-Martin Lynch
Editor and Contributor | Martin Lynch
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Comments
It sounds like a very exciting project.
Hopefully it will bring os much more exciting knowledge about the universe. We don´t know that much about the universe yet. Still lots and lots of things to discover.
Only problem i can see is the missions very complicated hardware and software. Knowing which problems Hubble run into, which could be fixed by a Shuttle mission. This kind of repairwork will be impossible at 1½ million kilometers distance.
FDM