NASA James Webb Telescope Being Tested, Scheduled For Use Later in the Decade

The James Webb Telescope is schedule for launch later this decade as NASA is currently conducting tests on its science instruments. The telescope will study every phase in the history of the Universe, including the evolution of our solar system.

Known as the "Next Generation Space Telescope", it was named after former NASA Administrator James Webb in 2002. The project is an international collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). After the telescope's launch, the Space Telescope Science Institute will be responsible for its operation.

Scientists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland are currently conducting tests on the telescope. On Monday they lowered the "heart" of the telescope into a massive thermal vacuum to test its frame and supporting hardware, which weighs about as much as an elephant. The heart, also known as the Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM), includes all four of the telescope's science instruments.

The Goddard Space Flight Center researchers are testing ISIM's helium-reliant cooling system to see if there are any leaks. Once it's confirmed there are no leaks and the cooling lines are helium tight, the James Webb Telescope will undergo a four-month long test as the ISIM will pump out all of the air while temperatures are lowered to match the freezing conditions in parts of outer space. The Space Environment Simulator is the vacuum chamber that the telescope was lowered into, and it's capable of reaching temperatures of -423.6 degrees Fahrenheit.

The scientific instruments aboard the telescope are the Near InfraRed Camera (NIRCam), the Near InfraRed Spectograph (NIRSpec), the Mid-InfrarRed Instrument (MIRI), and the Fine Guidance Sensor/Near InfraRed Imager and Slitless Spectograph (FGS-NIRISS). It's scheduled for launch later this decade aboard the Ariane 5 rocket, which will take off from French Guiana.

Following the current vacuum test, the telescope is set to undergo the second one scheduled for 2015. NASA is likely to take their time with this project because it is expected to be the most powerful space telescope ever built and will provide never-before-obtained information and data.