James Webb Space Telescope nears completion

Engineers and technicians used a crane at Northrop Grumman’s facilities in Redondo Beach, California, to assemble the two halves of the space telescope, which has been in development since the 1990s. Once launched, the JWST will be stationed at the L2 Lagrangian point, exploring the cosmos predominantly using infrared light. This will enable it to observe high redshift objects that are too old or distant for the Hubble telescope to see. The mission has a planned launch date of March 2021.

James Webb telescope layers up for the sun

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According to NASA, the team slowly guided the two halves of James Webb Space Telescope into place, ensuring that all primary points of contact were perfectly aligned and seated properly. Alongside a 6.5-meter-diameter gold-coated primary mirror, the JWST also carries a suite of scientific instruments including infrared cameras and spectrographs, as well as an enormous sunshield to protect them. Now that the two segments have been joined mechanically, the next stage will see all the components electrically connected.