14 DAY TRIAL // The James Webb Space Telescope is one of the space telescopes of the new generation that will be flown into Earth's orbit. Scheduled to launch no earlier than June 2013, the telescope has recently passed the preliminary design review made of the Optical Telescope Element, which will be the telescope's 'eyes'. The OTE is formed of a primary mirror 6.5 meters in diameter, secondary, tertiary mirror and the fine steering mirrors, plus the supporting structures and electronics.
According to Lee Feinberg, JWST OTE manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, the completion of the OTE design review represents a milestone in the telescope's building, and proves that the project is feasible, so the team can shift their attention towards the final design details.
The technological requirements and the success completion of the preliminary components' design review ensured the team that the space telescope would complete its mission according to the scheduled program, and without any supplemental building or operation costs.
A team of experts gathered by NASA has demonstrated earlier this year that the technology used for building the telescope could enter the detailed engineering phase. All the tested components marked a Readiness Level 6, which means that the prototype cleared the tests in the special thermal vacuum chamber experiments, which simulates extreme thermal variations similar to the cold temperatures in space, in vacuum conditions.
As soon as the telescope passed the review, the team in charge of building it presented the final assembly and verification stages of the telescope, including all sub-systems, thermal controls and hardware for the sub-assemblies, and space simulated environment testing at Houston.
Also earlier this year, the fine tunning portion of the mirror, that consisting of 18 primary mirror segments, has been completed, thus leaving room for the completion of the structure that would support the primary mirror.
When completed, it will be the first space telescope to be launched in the next decade, and will be used by scientists all over the world in order to study the early history of the universe, when the first galaxies formed, the eventual solar systems which might present the right conditions to support life, and even the evolution of the Solar System.