Looking back to the future: the James Webb Space Telescope

The Hubble telescope is to due to receive its final upgrade. Already, scientists are working on it's successor. The James Webb Space Telescope is scheduled for launch in 2013. It’s one of the world’s biggest scientific projects, involving experts from NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).
The James Webb Space Telescope will study the first galaxies that formed in the early universe. While Hubble can detect light from stars a billion years after the Big Bang, the James Webb Space Telescope will be able to observe the very formation of the first planetary systems.


The James Webb Space Telescope will image the universe with infra-red vision. To do that, the scope will have to be kept at a temperature of minus 250°c. That’s because heat is infra-red light – and any warmth from the sun or the earth would spoil its images and measurements. We take a closer look at Hubble’s cutting-edge successor.


Cornelia Borrmann