It is the largest and most powerful space telescope ever launched into space: the James Webb Space Telescope. It is intended to provide insights into scientific remote sensing and the early history of the universe - and perhaps even discover life in space. On board: high-precision mirrors manufactured at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF in Jena.
The telescope analyzes light in the near to mid-infrared spectral range. This allows new insights to be gained into how galaxies are formed. This "well-traveled" light can be used to gain insights into the early history of the universe after the Big Bang more than 13.5 billion years ago.
At the Fraunhofer IOF in Jena, the "Mid InfraRed Instrument" (MIRI) was equipped with ultra-precise mirrors that were diamond-turned and coated. Diamond turning is a powerful manufacturing process for producing planar and curved optical surfaces. Jena researchers were also involved in the realization of the "Near Infrared Spectrograph" (NIRSpec). It can analyze light in the wavelength range from 0.7 to 5 micrometers.
