Universe  ID: 10777

NASA Completes Mirror Polishing for James Webb Space Telescope

Released on June 29, 2011
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 (-240 degrees celsius) in the cold of space.
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B-roll of mirror polishing at the L3 Integrated Optical Systems - Tinsley facility located in Richmond, California.

Credit: NASA/Northrop Grumman/Ball/L3

Credits

Michael McClare (HTSI): Video Editor
Michael McClare (HTSI): Producer
Victoria Weeks (HTSI): Videographer
Michael McClare (HTSI): Videographer
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA/Northrop Grumman/Ball/L3

Short URL to share this page:
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10777

Mission:
James Webb Space Telescope - JWST

This item is part of this series:
Astrophysics B-Roll

Goddard TV Tape:
G2011-078 -- Webb Telescope Mirror Polishing B-roll

Keywords:
SVS >> JWST
SVS >> Mirror
SVS >> James Webb Space Telescope
NASA Science >> Universe