Uploaded April 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Release Date: September 22, 2015
Because the Webb telescope is launched into space and operates in an extremely cold environment, it is built with materials that are both lightweight and stable. It needs to maintain its shape despite a range of temperatures. One of the science instruments on the telescope, NIRSpec, or Near Infrared Spectrograph, is largely made from a ceramic known as silicon carbide. This episode of Behind the Webb takes us on a journey from the origins of this special material to how it's incorporated into the next great space observatory.
Credit: NASA, Mary Estacion (STScI)
Release Date: September 22, 2015
Because the Webb telescope is launched into space and operates in an extremely cold environment, it is built with materials that are both lightweight and stable. It needs to maintain its shape despite a range of temperatures. One of the science instruments on the telescope, NIRSpec, or Near Infrared Spectrograph, is largely made from a ceramic known as silicon carbide. This episode of Behind the Webb takes us on a journey from the origins of this special material to how it's incorporated into the next great space observatory.
Credit: NASA, Mary Estacion (STScI)
