News Release

Model of NASA'S Webb Telescope visits Ireland

Dublin Institute to provide components for Webb Telescope Instrument

Business Announcement

NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center

Webb Telescope Model in Dublin

image: The life-sized James Webb Space Telescope model sits in front of the Royal Hospital Kilmainham, in Dublin, Ireland. view more 

Credit: Richard Bent, Northrop Grumman Space Technology.

Ireland got its first look at the tennis court-sized James Webb Space Telescope Model during its visit to Dublin, Ireland during the week of June 11, 2007.

The Webb telescope is NASA's next-generation space telescope and will be able to peer back more than 13 billion years in time to understand the formation of galaxies, stars and planets and the evolution of our own solar system. This is no small feat. Looking at starlight is like looking back in time, because it takes the light from those stars years to get to Earth. Light moves at 186,000 miles per second so imagine how long it takes light to get from a star 50 light-years away from Earth.

Earlier this year, people in the Washington, D.C. area had the opportunity to see the full-scale model of this amazing telescope up close on the National Mall. The full-scale model was built and funded by Northrop Grumman Space Technology, which is also building the real Webb telescope under contract to NASA.

Beginning on June 11 and continuing through July, the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies has arranged for the outdoor display of the Webb Telescope model at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham in Dublin, so media, scientists and the public can get an idea of what the successor to the Hubble Telescope will look like. The Dublin Institute for Advance Studies is responsible for providing the filters and beam-splitters for one of the Webb Telescope's main science instruments. The Irish organizations that are sponsoring the model display include Omega Air, Discover Science and the National Training Authority of Ireland (called FAS in Gaelic). Northrop Grumman’s telescope model was brought to Dublin in conjunction with the James Webb Space Telescope Partner's Workshop, which took place on June 11-14.

The life-sized model is constructed mainly of aluminum and steel, weighs 12,000 lbs., and is approximately 80 feet long, 40 feet wide and 40 feet tall. It was specifically designed for an environment subject to gravity and weather. A specially manufactured material imported from France called "Ferrari recontraint" allows the sunshield to 'breathe.' The model requires 2 trucks to ship it over land, and assembly takes a crew of 12 approximately four days.

As for the actual working telescope, components are now being manufactured after passing scientific approvals and tests earlier this springtime. Once fully assembled and tested, the telescope is expected to launch in 2013.

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IMAGES and ANIMATION: http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/roboticexplorers/dublin_webb.html

The NASA-led international partnership for the program includes the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.


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