Nasa's Next Telescope

The James Webb space telescope is scheduled to be deployed in 2013, giving scientists a deeper look into space than the existing Hubble Telescope.



The man whose name NASA has chosen to bestow upon the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope is most commonly linked to the Apollo moon program, not to science.

Yet, many believe that James E. Webb, who ran the fledgling space agency from February 1961 to October 1968, did more for science than perhaps any other government official and that it is only fitting that the Next Generation Space Telescope would be named after him.


It is made of beryllium one of the lighest know elements and has excellent thermal optical properties.