Uploaded April 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Release Date: October 9, 2015
The Webb telescope needs to be kept as cold as possible in order to detect infrared light from faint and very distant objects. A key component of this is the observatory’s tennis-court-sized sunshield, which obstructs the warmth of the Sun. In this episode of Behind the Webb, engineers add special structures to the sunshield that shape it to best reflect heat.
NASA, Mary Estacion (STScI)
Release Date: October 9, 2015
The Webb telescope needs to be kept as cold as possible in order to detect infrared light from faint and very distant objects. A key component of this is the observatory’s tennis-court-sized sunshield, which obstructs the warmth of the Sun. In this episode of Behind the Webb, engineers add special structures to the sunshield that shape it to best reflect heat.
NASA, Mary Estacion (STScI)
