James Webb Space Telescope – Engineering images
The Cryocooler Electronics during testing.
The Cryocooler Compressor Assembly. This photo shows the flight cryocooler installed "upside-down" in a vacuum chamber for testing, before the...
The cooling device for the Mid-Infrared Instrument, or MIRI, one of the James Webb Space Telescope's four instruments. The MIRI...
The MIRI instrument. MIRI's operates at temperatures of no more than 6.7 degrees above absolute zero, or minus 448 degrees...
This image shows an engineer in a cleanroom looking at one of the sunshield layers that shows a grid pattern...
On orbit, the observatory is pointed so that the sun, Earth and moon are always on one side, with the...
The sunshield's membrane layers, each as thin as a human hair, are made of Kapton, a tough, high-performance plastic coated...
The SIDECAR(TM), or System Image, Digitizing, Enhancing, Controlling and Retrieving ASIC performs high-fidelity A-to-D signal conversion at cryogenic temperatures.
Engineers inspect NASA's James Webb Space Telescope as it sits inside Chamber A at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston....
A screenshot from the James Webb Space Telescope "Webbcam" showing the test chamber that Webb telescope had been sealed within,...
A crane lifts the flight instruments of the James Webb Space Telescope from the Goddard thermal vacuum chamber where it...
This figure shows four 0.6 - 2.5 μm James Webb Space Telescope NIRCam H2RGs mounted into a focal plane module....
A James Webb Space Telescope Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) detector with optical baffles removed. Light is collected in the purple...
The James Webb Space Telescope uses infrared detector hybrids. The pixelated absorber layer (HgCdTe or Si:As) absorbs the light and...
This MIRI detector (green) is housed in a brick-like unit called a focal plane module. It has a 1024x1024 pixel...
Another view of the 1/6th scale model of the JWST mirror in optics testbed.
Alternative view of the 1/6th scale model of the JWST mirror in optics testbed.
Fully functional, 1/6th scale model of the JWST mirror in its optics testbed used to develop wavefront sensing and control.
This abstract image was a preview of the instrumental power that was unleashed now that the James Webb Space Telescope...
One of the four array quadrants of the microshutter device is about the size of a postage stamp. Each quadrant...
An array of microshutters on the James Webb Space Telescope's NIRSpec instrument.
The entire microshutter device consists of approximately 250,000 individual windows with shutters arrayed in a waffle-like grid.
Arianespace's Ariane 5 rocket launches with NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope onboard, Saturday, Dec. 25, 2021, from the ELA-3 Launch...
The FGS/NIRISS at NASA Goddard before integration into the instrument module.
Montage of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) in it's folded and stowed launch configuration inside the nose cone of...
Webb's sunshield is positioned between the Sun/Earth/Moon and the telescope. Webb's orbit at L2.
The sunshield protects the telescope from external sources of light and heat (like the Sun, Earth, and Moon).
The Brush Wellman team and the mirror blanks.
FGS/NIRISS was built by the Canadian Space Agency.
NIRSpec Engineering Diagram
James Webb Space Telescope NIRSpec Upgrades Complete!
NIRSpec's microshutter cells, each approximately as wide as a human hair, have lids that open and close when a magnetic...
MIRI Engineering Diagram
JWST Team Photo with Completed Flight Instrument module
Installation of MIRI into the instrument module.
NIRCam Engineering Diagram
Group photo of JWST project members with the complete Integrated Science Instrument Module.
The flight Near-Infrared Camera was installed into the flight Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM) for the James Webb Space Telescope.
The NIRCAM operates over a wavelength range of 0.6 to 5 microns.
This image shows what the The OTE Consists Of.
The OTIS (OTE+ISIM) out of cryovac chamber at NASA Johnson. The OTIS is an acronym that includes the OTE plus...
Engineering Diagram 4 Spacecraft bus"
Engineering Diagram 3 Spacecraft bus
Engineering Diagram 2 Spacecraft bus
Engineering Diagram 1 Spacecraft bus
At Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems facilities in Redondo Beach, Calif., integration and test technicians work on a mock-up of the...
This x-ray diagram of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows where the backplane support frame (BSF) is in relation to...
The Deployable Tower Array at the base of the telescope structure
The first mirror is installed on the flight telescope structure
Inside NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center's giant clean room in Greenbelt, Md., JWST Optical Engineer Larkin Carey examines two test...
The Pathfinder about to be moved into Chamber A for cryo tests.
The completed primary mirror on the flight telescope structure at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. The black covers on the...
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, or Webb, emerged from Chamber A at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston on Dec....
Technicians complete the primary mirror backplane support structure wing assemblies for NASA's James Webb Space Telescope at ATK's Space Components...
Engineers at ATK work on the now-completed center section of the "backplane" support structure that will hold Webb's mirror segments
Images from our exciting week in August - opening the shipping crate containing the James Webb Space Telescope's flight backplane,...
The flight structure of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope was standing tall on a platform in the cleanroom at NASA's...
The back view of James Webb Telescope
A rare view of the instruments being lowered into the Webb telescope at NASA/Goddard. Webb's science instruments were installed in...
A piece of Kapton showing ripstop seaming.
The Sunshield on NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is the largest part of the observatory—five layers of thin membrane that...
The layers work together to reduce the temperatures between the hot and cold sides of the observatory by approximately 570...
Diagram of Cross-Section of Webb's Five-Layer Sunshield.
Stretched out like a silver kite, the five-layer sunshield for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope sits in a cleanroom at...
A team of engineers and technicians from NASA and Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. of Boulder, Colo., prepare to load...
Engineers from Ball Aerospace inspect the first James Webb Space Telescope mirror segment upon its arrival at Marshall Space Flight...
The engineering design unit primary mirror segment (flight spare) coated in gold by Quantum Coating Incorporated.
An engineer stands in front of the gold-coated primary mirror EDU
The secondary mirror went through a similar process - here it is after being gold-coated by Quantum Coating Incorporated.
Technicians and scientists check out one of the Webb telescope's first two flight mirrors in the clean room at NASA's...
Four of the finished mirrors that will fly aboard NASA's James Webb Space Telescope arrived at NASA's Goddard Space Flight...
Engineers and technicians moved the James Webb Space Telescope structure inside the clean room at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center...
Inside the massive clean room at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland the James Webb Space Telescope's telescope...
Inside a massive clean room at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland the James Webb Space Telescope team...
The gold-covered primary mirrors of the James Webb Space Telescope, revealed in the cleanroom at NASA Goddard.
Here's a view from overhead of the golden James Webb Space Telescope, with its secondary mirror booms stowed. This is...
James Webb Space Telescope Mirror Seen in Full Bloom
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope sits inside Chamber A at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston after having completed its...
Primary Mirror Segment Engineering Design Unit
A James Webb Space Telescope primary mirror segment blank. This image shows the back of the mirror blank, which is...
The front of an unpolished mirror blank.
The Brush Wellman team and the mirror blanks.
A marble-sized piece of Beryllium.
These diagrams show the back of the mirrors and the actuators.
Diagram of the anatomy of a James Webb Space Telescope Mirror.
Each of Webb's mirrors has an individual designation. A, B, or C denotes which of the three mirror prescriptions a...
The different colors denote one of three different optical prescriptions for Webb's mirror.
The James Webb Space Telescope is shown with one of its two "wings" folded. Each wing holds three of its...
Engineers Matt Macias and Eve Woolridge take a close look at the James Webb Space Telescope's primary mirror at NASA...
The world’s most powerful space science telescope has opened its primary mirror for the last time on Earth.
In a recent test, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope fully deployed its primary mirror into the same configuration it will...
During the sunshield folding process for the James Webb Space Telescope, a team of technicians carefully fold each layer in...
In a recent test, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope fully deployed its primary mirror into the same configuration it will...
What’s the best way to make a really powerful telescope? Build a big mirror! The James Webb Space Telescope has...
The powerful primary mirrors of the James Webb Space Telescope will be able to detect the light from distant galaxies....
This is a photo of one of the James Webb Space Telescope's primary mirror segments coated with gold by Quantum...
Ball Aerospace optical technician Scott Murray inspects the first gold primary mirror segment, a critical element of NASA's James Webb...
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, or Webb, emerged from Chamber A at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston on Dec....
On Saturday, Dec. 11, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope was secured on top of the Ariane 5 rocket that will...
Webb is now in its final series of deployment and checkout tests before the observatory is packed for shipment to...
A fully assembled Webb Telescope, propped by support structures, takes up the space inside the Northrop Grumman cleanroom. In the...
With the completion of its latest series of milestone tests, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has now survived all of...
This is an archival image from October 2019, when technicians successfully performed a critical test on Webb's 5-layer sunshield by...
Technicians successfully performed a critical test on Webb's 5-layer sunshield by fully deploying each of its uniquely sized layers to...
Technicians successfully performed a critical test on Webb's 5-layer sunshield by fully deploying each of its uniquely sized layers to...
The flight structure of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope was standing tall on a platform in the cleanroom at NASA's...
The most powerful and complex space telescope ever created by humankind has achieved its final form as a fully assembled...
This image was taken at Northrop Grumman. The optical portion of the telescope is complete, seen here, and is being...
As part of the NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s final tests, the 6.5 meter (21 feet 4 inch) mirror was...
A technician examines the backplane pathfinder – a flight-like model of the center section of the Webb telescope backplane used...
The robotic arm lifts and lowers a golden James Webb Space Telescope flight spare primary mirror segment onto a test...
Inside a massive clean room at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland the James Webb Space Telescope team...
Walk Out of the James Webb Space Telescope Secondary Mirror Support Structure
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has begun its stately rollout to the Arianespace ELA-3 launch complex at Europe’s Spaceport located...
The telescope is seen hanging from a crane, in the process of being moved over the sunshield.
Technicians and engineers working to ensure the soundness of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope manually lower its folded sunshield layers...
James Webb Space Telescope Assembled Observatory Full Mirror Deployment Test
On Friday 17 December, the Ariane 5 rocket fairing was closed around the James Webb Space Telescope. This protective fairing,...
James Webb Space Telescope on Launcher
Archival Image: Webb's Mirror in the Goddard Cleanroom
The James Webb Space Telescope Folds Its Wings
The James Webb Space Telescope is the first of its kind “open” style telescope that relies on innovative space shielding...
Engineers Matt Macias and Eve Woolridge take a close look at the James Webb Space Telescope's primary mirror at NASA...
The world’s most powerful space science telescope has opened its primary mirror for the last time on Earth.
The James Webb Space Telescope captured this light curve of the brightness of WASP-96 b’s parent star over time. As...
