Next Generation Space Telescope Being Assembled In Md.
GREENBELT, Md. (WJZ)—Billions of dollars and decades of work is finally coming together at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt.
Alex DeMetrick reports, that's where the next generation space telescope is being assembled.
When the James Webb Space Telescope is launched it will travel one million miles before parking in a long distance orbit. The three story high infrared telescope needs deep cold to work.
"Our instruments and our mirrors need to be about minus 385 degree Fahrenheit. So you want to get far away from the sun and we have a sunshield that blocks out the sun," said Bill Ochs, project manager for the James Webb Space Telescope.
Right now, work platforms block a clear view of the Webb Space Telescope taking shape at the Goddard Space Flight Center. The telescope's gold coated mirrors arrived two years ago. Now, all the pieces are being assembled in Maryland.
"The instrument package and the telescope will be put together this spring and at that point we're responsible for all the testing," said Ochs.
Unlike the Hubble Space Telescope, which sees like our eyes do, the Webb will see infrared light.
The only way to see the most distant light from stars that formed after the big bang 13.5 billion years ago and it can find what's hidden in Hubble's images.
"You'll see all these gases and stuff, clouds. We can actually see through that and you can actually all the stars and so forth forming behind that," said Ochs.
The Webb will also look at planets circling other stars, it's infrared eye searching for chemical elements.
"Essentially it gives you a finger print. We're not going to see little green folks running around., but we will see the fingerprints that tell us that, 'hey, that has the potential for life,'" Ochs says.
The $8 billion Webb Space Telescope is on track for launch in October 2018.