The James Webb Telescope

In 2018, an Ariane 5 rocket will blast off from Earth and begin a long, 1 million mile journey to the second Sun-Earth Lagrange Point. Its cargo will be arguably one of the most expensive and precious instruments NASA has ever made: the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). As the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, JWST will peer deeper into the universe than ever before. It will unlock secrets that we haven't even begun to imagine. In this short talk, Dr. Lance Sims will give an overview of the astounding engineering challenges behind JWST and describe some of the scientific questions it will try to answer. He will also try to convey that all of his previous statements depend on mission success, which is by no means guaranteed.

Speaker: Lance Sims