Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




SPACE SCOPES
NASA's Webb Telescope Completes Mirror-Coating Milestone
by Staff Writers
Washington DC (SPX) Sep 15, 2011


The Webb telescope has 21 mirrors, with 18 mirror segments working together as one large 21.3-foot (6.5-meter) primary mirror. The mirror segments are made of beryllium, which was selected for its stiffness, light weight and stability at cryogenic temperatures.

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has reached a major milestone in its development. The mirrors that will fly aboard the telescope have completed the coating process at Quantum Coating Inc. in Moorestown, N.J.

The telescope's mirrors have been coated with a microscopically thin layer of gold, selected for its ability to properly reflect infrared light from the mirrors into the observatory's science instruments. The coating allows the Webb telescope's "infrared eyes" to observe extremely faint objects in infrared light. Webb's mission is to observe the most distant objects in the universe.

"Finishing all mirror coatings on schedule is another major success story for the Webb telescope mirrors," said Lee Feinberg, NASA Optical Telescope Element manager for the Webb telescope at the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "These coatings easily meet their specifications, ensuring even more scientific discovery potential for the Webb telescope."

The Webb telescope has 21 mirrors, with 18 mirror segments working together as one large 21.3-foot (6.5-meter) primary mirror. The mirror segments are made of beryllium, which was selected for its stiffness, light weight and stability at cryogenic temperatures. Bare beryllium is not very reflective of near-infrared light, so each mirror is coated with about 0.12 ounce of gold.

The last full size (4.9-foot /1.5-meter) hexagonal beryllium primary mirror segment that will fly aboard the observatory recently was coated, completing this stage of mirror production.

The Webb telescope is the world's next-generation space observatory and successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. The most powerful space telescope ever built, the Webb telescope will provide images of the first galaxies ever formed, and explore planets around distant stars. It is a joint project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.

Mirror manufacturing began eight years ago with blanks made out of beryllium, an extremely hard metal that holds its shape in the extreme cold of space where the telescope will orbit.

Mirror coating began in June 2010. Several of the smaller mirrors in the telescope, the tertiary mirror and the fine steering mirror, were coated in 2010. The secondary mirror was finished earlier this year.

Quantum Coating Inc. (QCI) is under contract to Ball Aerospace and Northrop Grumman. QCI constructed a new coating facility and clean room to coat the large mirror segments. QCI developed the gold coating for performance in certain areas, such as uniformity, cryogenic cycling, durability, stress and reflectance, in a two-year effort prior to coating the first flight mirror.

In the process, gold is heated to its liquid point, more than 2,500 Fahrenheit (1,371 degrees Celsius), and evaporates onto the mirror's optical surface. The coatings are 120 nanometers, a thickness of about a millionth of an inch or 200 times thinner than a human hair.

"We faced many technical challenges on the Webb mirror coating program," said Ian Stevenson, director of coating at Quantum Coating. "One of the most daunting was that all flight hardware runs had to be executed without a single failure."

The mirror segments recently were shipped to Ball Aerospace in Boulder, Colo., where actuators are attached that help move the mirror.

From there, the segments travel to the X-ray and Calibration Facility at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., to undergo a final test when they will be chilled to -400 Fahrenheit (-240 degrees Celsius). The last batch of six flight mirrors should complete the test by the end of this year.

The Webb telescope is a partnership between NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.

.


Related Links
James Webb Space Telescope
Space Telescope News and Technology at Skynightly.com






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








SPACE SCOPES
Top Scientists Head To Perth For Talkabout SKA
Perth, Australia (SPX) Sep 12, 2011
Top astronomers and engineers from nine countries will meet in Perth this week to plan for pre-construction of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) at The Path to SKA-low workshop. Hosted by the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR), the workshop has attracted more than 75 researchers from Australia, India, Italy, Malta, New Zealand, The Netherlands, South Africa, the UK an ... read more


SPACE SCOPES
United Launch Alliance Launches GRAIL Spacecrafts To Moon

NASA launches twin spacecraft to study Moon's core

Second bid to launch NASA's Moon-bound spacecraft

NASA to launch Moon-bound twin spacecraft

SPACE SCOPES
Opportunity Inspects Next Rock at Endeavour

Opportunity Continues Early Exploration Of Endeavour Crater Rim

Memorial Image Taken on Mars on September 11, 2011

Methane Debate Splits Mars Community

SPACE SCOPES
Virgin aims for first space launch within 12 months

Statement on Importance of Supporting Planetary Exploration

NASA Offers Shuttle Tiles And Space Food To Schools And Universities

Russia delays commercial space launches after crash

SPACE SCOPES
Tiangong 1 might be launched in late September

Chang'e-2 moon orbiter travels around L2 in outer space

China State media says Tiangong 1 to launch in early Sept

Time Limits for Tiangong

SPACE SCOPES
Russia announces launch of 2 spacecraft in Oct-Nov

Three ISS crew members scheduled to return on Friday

Russia sets first post-crash manned flight for November

NASA Sits Tight as Unmanned Space Station Considered

SPACE SCOPES
NASA unveils new launcher design for Mars missions

First Galileo satellite touches down in French Guiana

European satellite in French Guiana launch

Arianespace to launch Amazonas-3 for Hispasat

SPACE SCOPES
Astronomers find extreme weather on an alien world

Latest Exoplanet Haul Includes Super Earth At Habitat Zone Edge

Invisible World Discovered

The diamond planet

SPACE SCOPES
Terahertz radiation's impact on cellular function and gene expression

Google, publishers near settlement in books case

Apple under fire over China university outlet

Lockheed Martin Awarded Contract to Upgrade US Army Advanced Gunnery Training Systems




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement