The James Webb Space Telescope, known for years as the "successor to Hubble" has been fitted with a an optical sensor that will act as eyes, allowing it to witness the formation of galaxies, and probe further back in time than has ever been accomplished before.
Known as MIRI, or the Mid-Infrared Instrument, this instrument had to align exactly with the spacecraft to a precision as fine as a thin human hair. Making the task even more difficult was the weight of the camera - over 180 pounds. If the camera alignment is off, much of the science planned for the probe can not be accomplished. MIRI will allow the Webb telescope to see wavelengths that could not be glimpsed by Hubble.
Dr. Stacey Palen, director of the Ott Planetarium said, "James Webb is optimized in infrared instead of in the visible. And, so it will be able to see things that Hubble Space Telescope was not necessarily designed, as its primary mission, to see."
The "clean room" at Goddard's Space Flight center in Greenbelt, MD looked like the site of a major surgical operation. Workers were dressed in white suits and masks, as they took great care installing the new detector. Just as in human operations, everyone in the room washed up and changed into clean scrubs for the installation of the camera. While installation was taking place, many of the people performing the task were forced into awkward physical positions, which stood in stark contrast to the team's highly-professional task.
Jason Hylan, the engineer who was responsible for the installation of the camera said, "This is somewhat akin to working on a car under the hood - some things are easy to get to because they are on the outside of where you are working. Other parts are buried and are very difficult to get to. Much of what we have to integrate is on the 'inside' and so access is very difficult."
When launched in 2018, the Webb Space Telescope will be the most powerful such device ever launched. Its mirror is seven times the size of the one aboard Hubble. In addition to its duties viewing and mapping the earliest galaxies, the James Webb Space Telescope will also have the ability to take over many of the planet-hunting duties of the Kepler mission, should remote repairs not be successful on that spacecraft.
