Testing a machine looking back past 13.5 billion years

NASA experts are about to test the giant gilded mirror on James Webb space telescope to explore the early universe.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is about to enter preliminary optical testing this week, Popular Science reported. Currently, the glass is located in the clean room in the US Space Agency's Goddard Space Flight Center.

Over the next few weeks, experts will measure and test the interferometer to make sure the glass mirror remains in shape in extreme sound and vibration conditions when launched into space. Each part of the mirror has been evaluated separately but after the entire mirror assembly process is complete, experts will check it again.

The face of the huge gold-plated mirror of James Webb space telescope.(Photo: NASA).

Later this year, JWST will be transferred to Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, Texas, USA to test the heat resistance in the environment 50 degrees below absolute zero.

Scientists around the world will use JWST to record images and spectra of the first galaxies that appeared in the early universe more than 13.5 billion years ago, along with all astral bodies like crystals star-forming veins, extrasolar planets, their planets and satellites in the solar system. In order to ensure a durable and lightweight mirror surface, the engineers team made mirrors from beryllium materials.

Each mirror is as big as a water table and weighs about 20kg. The fully assembled mirror is larger than the type of boosters, so the sides of the mirror will be folded during launch. After each mirror piece there are control motors so that the engineering team can adjust the telescope's focus in the universe.

The James Webb Space Telescope is partnered by NASA with the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency, which is the next version of Hubble. The device will become the strongest telescope made by NASA. James Webb will study many stages in the history of the universe, including the formation of star systems that favor life on Earth-like planets, as well as the evolution of the solar system.