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NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is ready for calibration after chilling out
The James Webb Space Telescope is one step closer to the day it can begin probing the depths of the universe.
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has successfully deployed its 70-foot sunshield
The James Webb Space Telescope has completed one of the most challenging tasks involved in its mission to probe the depths of our universe.
NASA has finally launched the James Webb Space Telescope
Merry Christmas, space nerds.
NASA's $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope will study the universe's origins
The James Webb Space Telescope is scheduled to lift off on Christmas Eve. It's mission: Peer deeper into space than ever before.
Coronavirus delays the launch of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope
NASA has again delayed the launch of its James Webb Space Telescope, this time because of how coronavirus has impacted work crews, Space.com The telescope was scheduled for launch in March 2021 after a number of delays. "We will not launch in March," Zurbuchen said.
NASA delays James Webb Space Telescope launch until 2021
Today, NASA's independent review board announced that it has unanimously recommended that development on the James Webb Space Telescope should move forward. As a result, NASA has a new official launch date for the space observatory: March 30, 2021.
NASA’s Hubble successor may miss its launch window
The James Webb Space Telescope, NASA's successor to Hubble, has undergone its share of delays. Now, things are getting even tighter. A report from the US Government Accountability Office finds that because of ongoing technical issues with the telescope, "additional launch delays are likely." What's more, the project is "at risk of breaching its $8 billion cost cap for formulation and development set by Congress in 2011."
NASA's James Webb telescope is one step closer to launch
NASA's $8.8 billion James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has just left the thermal vacuum chamber where it's spent more than three months being put through its paces in a series of hardcore cryogenic tests. Scientists wanted to make sure the telescope's instruments and optical element can function properly in the cold, airless conditions of space, and while NASA studies the results, engineers are busy putting JWST back together again, in preparation for its launch in spring 2019.
NASA has completed the $8.7 billion James Webb space telescope
The Hubble Space Telescope has given humanity unprecedented glimpses into the universe, but it will soon be replaced by a far more powerful model. NASA administrator Charles Bolden unveiled the completed $8.8 billion James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which will be able to see the universe as it was 13 billion years ago. It's equipped with a 21-foot, gold-coated mirror array that can collect seven times more light than Hubble and scan the infrared spectrum to see through dust. "We've done two decades of innovation and hard work, and this is the result," project scientist John Mather says.
James Webb Space Telescope ready for its wings, on track for 2018 launch
What's a spacecraft need wings for? Packaging, of course. The James Webb Space telescope relies on a 21 foot diameter backplane mirror to steady it, but the assembly needs to fit inside of a 16.5 foot fairing to ride the rocket to the stars. A tight fit, to say the least. Fortunately, NASA technicians have just finished the mirror backplate support structure, a folding wing assembly designed with to safely collapse the beryllium mirror during flight, and expand it again in orbit. "This is another milestone that helps move Webb closer to its launch date in 2018," remarked Geoff Yoder, the program's director. Now that the wing assembly is finished, the team can focus on the support fixture for the instrument model, which will complete major construction and allow technicians to connect the finished pieces. We'll miss old Hubble, sure, but we're happy to see its successor pulling things together all the same.
Alt-week 8.25.12: robotic noses, Nodosaurs and Space X launches again
Alt-week peels back the covers on some of the more curious sci-tech stories from the last seven days. All good things come to an end, they say. Thankfully, most bad things do, too. So while the rest of the world of tech is dealing with the fallout, and possible implications of patent law, over here in the wild party that is Alt, we're fist pumping at all the awesome weekly sci-tech fodder. For example, we've got a robo-nose that can sniff out nasties in the air, a 110-million-year-old footprint found in NASA's back yard, and not one, but two space stories to reflect on. There's a hidden joke in there too, come back once you've read through to find it. This is alt-week.
NASA shows off James Webb Space Telescope, the Hubble successor
With Hubble slowly winding down after years of service, NASA has now taken to talking up the telescope's successor, even going so far as to take a full-scale model of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) on the road. Currently on display outside the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., the model measures an impressive 80 feet long and 40 feet high, which you'll have to be content with until the actual telescope launches in June 2013 at a cost of $4.5 billion. Once deployed, the telescope will sit some 1.5 million kilometers (or 930,000 miles) from Earth, and be able to peer far deeper into space than Hubble is able to, thanks in large part to the JWST's ginormous foldable mirror (almost three times bigger than Hubble's). If you can't make it to the Smithsonian to check out the model, you can at least get a better look at it in the gallery of images below courtesy of NASA. %Gallery-3077%
