The Monitor Daily

Friday, February 26, 2021
Log in

As a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, this site may earn from qualifying purchases. We may also earn commissions on purchases from other retail websites.

  • Home
  • Politics & National News
  • Business News
  • Tech & Science
  • Health & Lifestyle
  • About us
    • Contact US
    • Privacy Policy GDPR
    • Terms of Use
  • Latest News
    • Stormy Planet
    • US Surgeon Performs Face Transplant
    • 2017 MTV VMAs Nominations Are In And Voting Is Now Open
    • Bright House: Free McAfee AntiVirus and Adult Controls
    • Antarctic Yeti Crab Gets Formal Scientific Name
    • Spiders Take Over Australian Town
    • Interesting Facts About the Apollo 11 Mission
    • Social Smoking or The New Landmark of Elegance Among Young Women
    • Rare Weasel Returns To Washington State

Pages

  • About The Monitor Daily
  • Contact US
  • Our Team
  • Privacy Policy GDPR
  • Terms of Use

Recent Posts

  • NYC Man Snaps Photo of the Victim After Sucker-Punching Him in Broad Daylight Jun 29, 2018
  • California Woman Performs Home Abortion By Asking Boyfriend to Kick Her in The Belly Jun 28, 2018
  • Nashville Man Arrested After Throwing Cocaine in Police Officer’s Face Jun 28, 2018
  • Brittany Pilkington Wants Psych Eval Before Sentencing Jun 27, 2018
  • Fayetteville Mom Behind Bars For Feeding Children Lighter Fluid Jun 27, 2018
  • Missouri Police Arrested Angry Customer Who Vandalized Nail Salon Jun 26, 2018
  • Queensland Mother Mutilated After Non-Invasive Eye Procedure Goes Sideways Jun 25, 2018

NASA Installs Secondary Mirror for James Webb Telescope

Mar 14, 2016 By Ryan Harriss Leave a Comment

"primary mirror"

After NASA proudly announced last month that they finished installing the primary mirror on the James Webb telescope, a large segment of the population became very excited about the specifics of the Hubble’s descendant. And for good reason, too, as the new telescope is the epitome of our current technological development in the field.

Getting one step closer to launching the impressive creation, NASA installs secondary mirror for James Webb telescope. And even though it’s not as impressive as the primary mirror, it is still part of the incredibly ingenuous and breathtaking contraption that is the James Webb Space Telescope.

As a reminder, the primary mirror of the telescope was composed out of 18 hexagonal segments, each covered in gold in order to improve its reflectivity. Although the second mirror has a different shape, size, and functionality (it’s still part of the same system), it still works by the same design.

The convex secondary mirror, with its reflective surface bulging towards a light source, is perfectly rounded. It’s supported on three 25 feet long struts extending out from the primary mirror. Build to withstand the sub-freezing temperatures and conditions of space, the hollowed out tubes are made from a very strong, light-weight material about 40 thousands of an inch (around 1 millimeter) thick.

Made of beryllium because of its stability at freezing temperatures, light weight and stiffness, the mirrors are all coated with around 0.12 ounces of gold each so as to more efficiently reflect infrared light. Without this, they would either not be effective enough, or they would crack or be distorted by outer-atmospheric conditions.

The telescope is far bigger than a rocket could safely carry in its entirety. Add to that the lack of funding at NASA, and the engineers behind the project had to come up with an efficient, ingenuous, and limitedly expensive solution to get the telescope in orbit. What is that solution, you ask?

Origami, of course. Since the team can’t mount an operation to send people up in orbit to put the telescope together, and since it can’t fit on a rocket in its final form, the engineers behind the project made it so that it unfolds pretty much like origami once it reaches orbit.

Of course, many teams of experts had to work on the project. The two primary companies helping with the construction, integration, and the very important testing were the Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corporation in Boulder, Colorado, and the Harris Corporation, both subcontractors to Northrop Grumman.

According to a release on NASA’s website,

The most powerful space telescope ever built, the Webb telescope will provide images of the first galaxies ever formed and study planets around distant stars. It is a joint project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.

Image source: Wikimedia

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Share on Tumblr

Filed Under: Tech & Science

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 34 other subscribers

Operation Paperclip

Remembering Georg von Tiesenhausen, Last Member of Von Braun’s Rocket Team

Jun 6, 2018 By Ryan Harriss Leave a Comment

giant ground sloths on white background

It Seems that Giant Sloths Once Roamed Earth, and Humans Used to Hunt Them? (Study)

May 8, 2018 By Matthew Riley Leave a Comment

sn 2001ig supernova explosion and images of its stars

A Star Escaped a Supernova Explosion, and NASA Snapped its Picture

May 7, 2018 By Matthew Riley Leave a Comment

ngc 6420 galaxy resembling a giant butterfly

Hubble Spots Giant Butterfly Formed by a Black Hole and Stellar Winds (Study)

Apr 20, 2018 By Matthew Riley Leave a Comment

infrared image of a dog

Space Technology Could Help Protect Earth’s Endangered Species

Apr 5, 2018 By Matthew Riley Leave a Comment

snake slithering on a beige background

Kirigami Skin Is Helping a Soft Robot Slither Like a Snake (Study)

Feb 26, 2018 By Matthew Riley Leave a Comment

woolly mammoth

Ice Age Tracks Reveal How Young Mammoths Cared for Adult Ones (Study)

Feb 14, 2018 By Matthew Riley Leave a Comment

High Priestess tomb.

Archaeologists Discovered 4400-Years-Old High Priestess Tomb Near Cairo

Feb 5, 2018 By Matthew Riley Leave a Comment

dwarf galaxies

Dwarf Galaxies Challenge the Entire Dark Matter Cosmology (Study)

Feb 4, 2018 By Matthew Riley Leave a Comment

NASA Scientists and Food Experiments

NASA Scientists to Test if Astronauts Could Eat Their Own Poo

Feb 1, 2018 By Matthew Riley Leave a Comment

KFC Smoky Wings Box Can Turn into Awesome Drone

Jan 26, 2018 By Robert Moore Leave a Comment

Tesla Model S

Tesla Model S Involved in Autopilot Malfunction Accident

Jan 24, 2018 By Joe Hennessey Leave a Comment

Duke Nukem.

John Cena Cold Feature in Duke Nukem Movie

Jan 23, 2018 By Matthew Riley Leave a Comment

Battlefield One

Battlefield One Apocalypse DLC to Land in February

Jan 20, 2018 By Ryan Harriss Leave a Comment

Related Articles

  • Operation Paperclip

    Remembering Georg von Tiesenhausen, Last Member of Von Braun’s Rocket Team

    Jun 6, 2018
  • giant ground sloths on white background

    It Seems that Giant Sloths Once Roamed Earth, and Humans Used to Hunt Them? (Study)

    May 8, 2018
  • sn 2001ig supernova explosion and images of its stars

    A Star Escaped a Supernova Explosion, and NASA Snapped its Picture

    May 7, 2018
  • ngc 6420 galaxy resembling a giant butterfly

    Hubble Spots Giant Butterfly Formed by a Black Hole and Stellar Winds (Study)

    Apr 20, 2018
  • infrared image of a dog

    Space Technology Could Help Protect Earth’s Endangered Species

    Apr 5, 2018
  • snake slithering on a beige background

    Kirigami Skin Is Helping a Soft Robot Slither Like a Snake (Study)

    Feb 26, 2018
  • woolly mammoth

    Ice Age Tracks Reveal How Young Mammoths Cared for Adult Ones (Study)

    Feb 14, 2018
  • High Priestess tomb.

    Archaeologists Discovered 4400-Years-Old High Priestess Tomb Near Cairo

    Feb 5, 2018
  • dwarf galaxies

    Dwarf Galaxies Challenge the Entire Dark Matter Cosmology (Study)

    Feb 4, 2018
  • NASA Scientists and Food Experiments

    NASA Scientists to Test if Astronauts Could Eat Their Own Poo

    Feb 1, 2018

Categories

  • Business News
  • Entertainment
  • Featured
  • Health & Lifestyle
  • Nature
  • Politics & National
  • Sports
  • Tech & Science
  • US
  • World

Copyright © 2021 TheMonitorDaily.com

About · Privacy Policy · Terms of Use · Sitemap · Contact

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Learn more.