Gallery: How a Superchilled Telescope Will Look Back at the Dawn of the Universe
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The Webb, with its 21-foot mirror, will be 100 times more powerful than the Hubble Space Telescope, able to capture images of very dim, very old light.
CHRIS GUNN/NASA02seeing2-g
Covered in a gold thermal fixture here, the James Webb Space Telescope's instrument module—the heart of the system—takes a break after four months of nonstop cryogenic performance tests.
CHRIS GUNN/NASA03seeing3-g
Famous for its long-term human space simulations during the Apollo missions, Chamber A, pictured here, is being upgraded and retrofitted for the massive Webb. A replica of the telescope, dubbed "Pathfinder," will undergo cryogenic optical testing here starting early next year.
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A NASA employee completes a successful thermal vacuum test of ISIM in the simulator. Next, the Webb's components will undergo mechanical and electromagnetic testing to ensure it can survive its launch and the inevitable space radiation.
CHRIS GUNN/NASA05seeing5-g
After 116 days, the module that holds Webb's space instruments, known as ISIM, is lifted from the space environment simulation chamber. The 40-foot tall and 27-foot wide chamber mimics the vaccuum and extremes of space, reaching temperatures of -387 degrees Fahrenheit (or 40 Kelvin).
CHRIS GUNN/NASA06seeing-g
At NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, engineers assemble a test section of the Webb. They practice piecing together the replica telescope's backplane structure, several mirrors, beams, and other necessary parts in preparation for building the real thing, scheduled to launch in 2018.
