“Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before.”

A famous line from a famous show, Star Trek. This show stands as one of the few shows that displayed an optimistic view of space travel. To learn and understand the universe. That idea stands today for the many astronomers and astrophysicists around the world. This is why the Hubble Space Telescope was created.

April 24, 1990, The Hubble Space Telescope was launched. It has made 1.2 million observations since then and data from the Hubble was used to publish 14,000 papers. The Hubble stands as the most productive scientific instrument ever built. With that said, Hubble is heading to the end of its days after 26 years of operation.

James Webb Space Telescope is the next in line to replace the Hubble. JWST boasts the power to observe the beginning of the universe 13 billion years ago. According to engadget.com “It’s equipped with a 21-foot, gold-coated mirror array that can collect seven times more light than the Hubble and scan the infrared spectrum to see through dust.” With its increased ability to collect light and see through dust, JWST can see farther and with more clarity than the Hubble.

This power will make finding exoplanets much easier. An exoplanet is a planet that orbits a star outside of earth’s solar system. The hunt for extraterrestrial life has now become easier thanks to the JWST.

Astronomers will also be able to fill in the holes in our universe as it is so expansive. The dark spots in the night sky actually house millions of stars that aren’t bright enough to shine through the ones closer to Earth. JWST will make viewing of some of these stars much easier essentially brightening the night sky.

JWST will be launched October 2018 in the Ariane 5 rocket designed by the European Space Agency. It will be folded up in the spacecraft and will unfurl itself on its way out of the Earth’s atmosphere. In order for the JWST to do its job it must be cooled to -220 degrees Celsius or -364 Fahrenheit. It has five hair thin membrane layers to shield it from the sun to maintain this temperature.

The construction of the JWST has already ended and is currently being tested for any and all problems it may face on its way into space. Due to the distance it will cover, JWST will be impossible to repair. It is too expensive and too far to attempt any repair after launch.

NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Canadian Space Agency have collaborated to create the JWST and they only have one shot to get it right.