James Webb Space Telescope
James Webb Space Telescope
The largest, most complex and powerful space telescope ever built.
First Images from the James Webb Space Telescope
What is Webb?
Northrop Grumman led the industry team for NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the largest, most complex and powerful space telescope ever built.
The Webb Telescope fundamentally alters our understanding of the universe. Northrop Grumman ensured that this once unthinkable achievement became a reality. Identified as a top priority for astronomy and astrophysics by the National Research Council, the Webb Telescope is a key program for NASA and the scientific community and is central to the nation’s ground- and space-based astrophysics program.
What it Was Like to Work on Webb
Before we could begin to build the most complex telescope ever, we had to invent technologies that never existed before. For many Northrop Grumman employees, the opportunity to work on Webb was the opening for boundless opportunity. From a new element on the Periodic Table and embracing digital transformation to creating zero gravity here on earth, Northrop Grumman employees developed something that the entire universe can be proud of.
Discover Webb
How Webb is Defining Possible
NASA’s Webb Telescope is using its superb angular resolution and near-infrared instruments to discover and study planetary systems similar to our own, analyzing the molecular composition of extrasolar planets’ atmospheres and directly imaging Jupiter-size planets orbiting nearby stars.
Webb is making observations once thought to be impossible; multiple new technologies had to be invented simply to build it. The groundbreaking mirror and powerful instruments are being used to discover and study distant planetary systems.
Webb is also looking deep into the past, to a time when the earliest stars and galaxies were born. By extending our knowledge of the cosmos, the Webb telescope will help us answer the compelling questions, “How did we get here?” and “Are we alone?”
The Webb Team
NASA led the international partnership that included the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center is managing the Webb Telescope project, and the Space Telescope Science Institute is responsible for science and mission operations, as well as ground station development.
As the prime contractor to develop the James Webb Space Telescope, Northrop Grumman designed and built the deployable sunshield, provided the spacecraft and integrated the total system. The observatory subsystems were developed by a Northrop Grumman-led team with vast experience in developing space-based observatories.
- Ball Aerospace: Optical design, mirrors, wavefront sensing, and control design and algorithms
- Harris Corporation: Optical telescope integration and testing
- University of Arizona: Near-Infrared Camera
- European Space Agency (ESA): Near-Infrared Spectrograph
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), ESA: Mid-Infrared Instrument
- Canadian Space Agency (CSA): Fine Guidance Sensor with Tunable Filter Module
Webb in the News
Read all Northrop Grumman news releases on the James Webb Space Telescope.
Northrop Grumman Employees Receive NASA’s Highest Honors for Building the James Webb Space Telescope
Northrop Grumman-built James Webb Space Telescope and Chandra X-Ray Observatory Help Scientists See the Universe in New Ways
James Webb Space Telescope, Built in Partnership with Northrop Grumman, Reveals New View of the Universe
Northrop Grumman Enables James Webb Space Telescope’s Coldest Instrument to Reach Operational Temperature
Northrop Grumman and NASA Complete Final Sunshield Deployment Test on the James Webb Space Telescope
