NASA Topics Missions Galleries NASA TV Follow NASA Downloads About NASA Audiences Search Latest Related Webb Telescope VASAsw-bb Renchc: - 'Ta t Mar 16,2022 Jes-cne O3t{s c ~Ins Juccesst_M RELEASE 22-024 Rovrs Jg0 ~leSuoj "WJde N454 J-enzo NASA's Webb Reaches Alignment Milestone; Optics in Koit - SL < |ee.i | Working Successfully 17 Rou"sJEO Lee esta nota de prensa en espariol acju. "VASAtc [ 32uS5 ? OEressJS Wejb 2l230-32' Mirrors AmEn Following the completion of critical mirror alignment steps NASA's James Webb Space Telescope team expects that Webb's optical performance will be able to Cys Jg0 meet or exceed the science goals the observatory was built to achieve. VASAt-Do-SS:ebl ZCC-_e? cEiess On March 11,the Webb team completed the stage of alignment known as "fe phasiriy_ At this key stage in the commissioning of Webb's Ootical ~e esccpe rror _ Element; every oprical parameter that has been checked and tested is performing at, or above, expectations The team also found no critical issues and n10 WenN en- mzoncc JFO measurable contamination or blockages to Webb's optical path: The observatory able to successfully gather lighr from distant objects and cleliver it to its instruments wIthout issUe. NASAtc D 32.SS Vebb AMMAl Jc Firi?| Although there are months t0 go before Webb ultimately delivers irs new view of the cosmos; achieving eSt FJt Ol Nex-Ste_s this milestone means the team is confident thar Webb s first-of-its-kind optical system working as TELESCOPE Alighiemt Evaluatidn image Rionths _60 well as possible_ A JJho del ce Bide N454 "More than 20 years ago. the Webb team set OUf to build the most powerful telescope that anyone has Fchcat- ever in space and came up with an audlacious optical design to meet demancling science goals; K" Ka |acic Ft :- said Thomas Zurbuchen; associare administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Gionths J80 Washington: Today we can say that tesign is going t0 cleliver ` Ye1 Kot 2 Bide 1 S3tio), While some of the largest ground Dased telescopes on Earth use segmented primary mirrors Webb is VASA_cc-t3-l-Ut the first relescope in space t0 use such design: The 21-foot; 4-inch (6.5-meter) primary mirror much Rionths 360 too big to fit inside rocket fairing is made up of 18 hexagona beryllium mirror segments had to wvhile the puIjcse of this image vas j0 fccus 0n (72 tr ghr star be folded up for Iaunch and then unfolded in space before each mirror was acljusted t0 within the Center fcr alignnent evalIation, Webb's ~ptics anj NIRCam nanometers to form single mirror surtace. sens tive tha: the Galaxies and Va C {een bac