The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)―the 21st century follow-on to NASA's highly successful Hubble Space Telescope―has moved one step closer to becoming a reality. In addition to selecting the instrument and science teams, NASA announced on September 10, 2002 mat TRW Space and Electronics and its partners ― Ball Aerospace and Eastman Kodak―had won the prime contract to build the high-profile observatory, formerly known as the Next Generation Space Telescope. It will be up to the contractor team and NASA to finalize designs and begin laying the groundwork for assembling one of the largest single-aperture telescopes ever flown. This article provides a general overview of the JWST mission― a centerpiece of NASA's Origins Program―and describes some of the technological challenges that NASA and TRW face.
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