THIS time, NASA will get no second chance. The eighteen slabs of beryllium that will become the mirror of the James Webb space telescope, the telescope that NASA hopes will replace and even surpass Hubble, must be machined to perfection.
Last time around, a special space mission was needed to correct Hubble's optics because its mirror was polished to the wrong specifications. There is no such option with Webb. The monster telescope is headed for an orbit so distant that no astronauts will be visiting during its lifetime.
And that is not the only challenge the telescope team faces. Despite NASA's frequent reassurances that Webb will be a replacement for Hubble, the truth is that the telescope has significant differences from the design initially intended. Technical challenges have moved the programme in a different direction, and although the scientists building Webb say their pictures will still blow astronomers minds and ...
Subscribe today at only USD $5.95 for your first 4 issues and get New Scientist, the world's leading science & technology news magazine delivered direct to your door every week
As a magazine subscriber you will benefit from instant access to:
