The Pin
April 03 2020, 8:59 pm
In a test conducted in early March, the James Webb Space Telescope fully deployed its 6.5-meter primary mirror – the largest of its kind NASA has ever built – in a simulation of conditions in outer space, the US space agency reported Tuesday.
For the first time, the mirror was deployed in the same configuration that you will get once the telescope is in orbit. NASA specialists attached special equipment to the mirror to simulate the zero gravity in which it will have to operate.
The larger the mirror, the more detail the telescope can capture due to its increased sensitivity, directly related to the size of the device that captures light from observed objects. However, the size of the mirror required for the James Webb to contribute to science is such that it prevents it from fitting into the available rockets, which is why they built it in several folding parts, like an ‘origami’.
James Webb is scheduled to launch into space in 2021 and technicians and engineers are currently completing the final tests. With its huge mirror, the telescope will be able to observe a series of frequencies that cannot currently be captured through the Hubble Space Telescope.
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