Article Posted on : - Aug 31, 2010

The James Webb Telescope. ESA photo

REDONDO BEACH, CALIFORNIA (BNS): A primary mirror segment of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has completed the final step in the manufacturing process.

The Webb telescope, scheduled for launch in 2014, is the world's next-generation space observatory and successor to the Hubble Space Telescope.

The mirror segment, an engineering development unit and flight spare, has been coated with an ultra-thin layer of evaporated gold to ensure that infrared light is properly reflected from the primary mirror into the observatory's science instruments.

This will be closely followed by the other 18 primary mirror flight segments in the coating process. Mirror manufacturing began seven years ago with beryllium blanks.

The most powerful space telescope ever built, Webb will observe the most distant objects in the universe, provide images of the very first galaxies ever formed and see unexplored planets around distant stars.

The Webb Telescope is a joint project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency. Northrop Grumman Corporation which is leading the telescope's design and development said in a statement.