NASA Finally Finishes Next-Gen Telescope

It took twenty years, but NASA finally finished the next-generation telescope that is considered the successor of the Hubble.

Popular Science reported that NASA engineers announced the completion of the construction of the James Webb Telescope - a massive piece that is twice the size of Hubble with a 21-foor mirror, and ready for testing before its October 2018 scheduled launch.

John Mather, astrophysicist and senior project scientist for the telescope said at a news conference as cited by Space.com, "Today, we're celebrating the fact that our telescope is finished, and we're about to prove that it works."

He also added, "We've done two decades of innovation and hard work, and this is theresult - we're opening up a whole new territory of astronomy."

The telescope was originally supposed to launch in 2014, with a budgeted cost of about $5 billion. However, a series of setbacks and budget constraints held it back - nearly canceling the project. Officials today affirmed that the JWST is back on track and on budget for its 2018 launch.

NASA, as well as its European and Canadian counterparts, collaborated with the design and construction of the JWST. The telescope is bigger and more powerful than its predecessor, with the ability to see the first galaxies born just after the Big Bang. The observations from the new telescope will not only help scientists understand the origins of the universe, but also help them look for signs of life on faraway planets.

However, before the telescope could be launched in space, NASA will have to put it through a series of rigorous tests. The telescope, which stands 6.5 meters of mirror assembly is too large to launch fully exptended, so it will have to be furled and unfold over a course of two weeks once in space. However, once it is in position, the James Webb and the Hubble together can give scientists an unprecendented view of the massive universe.