NASA Completes Mirror Polishing for James Webb Space Telescope

Completion of Webb Telescope mirror polishing represents a major mission milestone. All of the mirrors that will fly aboard NASA's James Webb Space Telescope have been polished so the observatory can see objects as far away as the first galaxies in the universe. The mirrors were polished at Tinsley Laboratories Inc. in Richmond, Calif. to accuracies of less than one millionth of an inch. This accuracy is important for forming the sharpest images when the mirrors cool to -400 degrees Farenheit in the cold of space.

This video shows B-roll of mirror polishing at the L3 Integrated Optical Systems - Tinsley facility located in Richmond, California.

Credit: NASA/Northrop Grumman/Ball/L3

[connor_vickers]

those are going to be so pretty shiny mirrors!!!

[NASAWebbTelescope]

@palebluedot For one, WMAP is a microwave telescope. One of the purposes of the mission was to study the early universe to learn more about the cosmic microwave background (CMB) - that is, the radiation released after the Big Bang but long before the formation of galaxies, when the universe was less than 400, 000 years old. Webb is infrared which optimizes it to look for first stars and galaxies, which formed when the universe was hundreds of millions of years in age.

[huyked]

Lookin' forward to the images this will beam back.

[aktchungrabanio]

Do we have footage of the microscopic detail of the surface? I'd love to see how flat they are!

[palebluedot]

This is probably a stupid question, but what does the James Webb Space Telescope do that the WMAP doesn't?

[jnrihgebv]

OMG mirror polishing was done 10 yrs ago!!

[wujilv]

And now it in space, the primary mirror is unfolded.

[palebluedot]

@NASAWebbTelescope

Thanks very much

[TreyNitrotoluene]

Whatt was that tree and what was in the solution?

[MasterMayhem]

Only 2 more months until it goes to space. 🤞🏻

[dadov]

@eituzett hahaahahaha.

-240 is less cold than -273, 15 you genius! :)

[kappakoin]

wax off human ignorance, wax on human thirst for knowledge

[wyskass]

This process seems to end very abruptly, and speaking is not allowed during the polishing operation.

[tobigforyou]

over budget as hell....but still my favorite scientific experiment.
I can't wait for it to launch.

[kunalsanwalka]

Given the cost overruns of the James Webb don't you think that NASA should redesign its management infrastructure in order to allow the same results to be achieved without the huge costs involved? Take for example the Indian Space Research Organization, its missions run at the fraction of the cost of NASA's and it still achieves the same results.

[afkarena]

An automated cart transfer system that is likely to be used once. I can see why the project went overbudget.