1
00:00:00,792 --> 00:00:03,586
Joan Cartan-Hansen, Host: It's 
taken decades and is the most

2
00:00:03,586 --> 00:00:05,171
expensive telescope ever built.

3
00:00:05,171 --> 00:00:08,633
But what exactly do scientists 
hope to find with the James Webb

4
00:00:08,633 --> 00:00:10,802
Space Telescope?

5
00:00:10,802 --> 00:00:15,140
[MUSIC]

6
00:00:15,140 --> 00:00:18,893
Cartan-Hansen: Telescopes on 
earth have helped us observe the

7
00:00:18,893 --> 00:00:19,644
stars.

8
00:00:19,644 --> 00:00:22,439
But the earth's atmosphere can 
distort or limit what we can

9
00:00:22,439 --> 00:00:23,189
see.

10
00:00:23,189 --> 00:00:25,775
So, in 1990, we launched the 
Hubble telescope.

11
00:00:25,775 --> 00:00:27,026
It's captured images deep in 
space.

12
00:00:27,026 --> 00:00:30,155
But because it's in low earth 
orbit, it too has some limits on

13
00:00:30,155 --> 00:00:32,574
what it can view.

14
00:00:32,574 --> 00:00:36,703
So in 1996, scientists from 
NASA, the European Space Agency

15
00:00:36,703 --> 00:00:39,789
and the Canadian Space Agency 
decided to build the next

16
00:00:39,789 --> 00:00:44,210
generation telescope, now called 
the James Webb Space Telescope

17
00:00:44,210 --> 00:00:45,211
or JWST.

18
00:00:45,211 --> 00:00:49,048
They wanted that telescope to 
capture infrared light.

19
00:00:49,048 --> 00:00:52,093
Maurice Te Plate is a systems 
engineer on the James Webb Space

20
00:00:52,093 --> 00:00:54,721
Telescope project.

21
00:00:54,721 --> 00:00:57,682
Maurice Te Plate: Space itself 
basically expanded, and that

22
00:00:57,682 --> 00:01:00,185
basically also means that the 
wavelength of the light got

23
00:01:00,185 --> 00:01:02,562
longer.

24
00:01:02,562 --> 00:01:07,275
And as such light, that was 
originally emitted as visual

25
00:01:07,275 --> 00:01:10,862
light, light that you and I can 
see with our human eyes, that

26
00:01:10,862 --> 00:01:13,031
light became infrared light.

27
00:01:13,031 --> 00:01:16,993
And in order to measure it, we 
cannot really use the current

28
00:01:16,993 --> 00:01:18,036
observatories.

29
00:01:18,036 --> 00:01:22,290
We need an observatory that is 
really optimized for this

30
00:01:22,290 --> 00:01:25,293
particular part of the 
wavelength range.

31
00:01:25,293 --> 00:01:27,796
And that's an infrared 
observatory.

32
00:01:27,796 --> 00:01:30,381
Cartan-Hansen: So, engineers 
began building the telescope,

33
00:01:30,381 --> 00:01:33,051
designing step by step while 
solving a whole bunch of

34
00:01:33,051 --> 00:01:34,052
problems.

35
00:01:34,052 --> 00:01:36,846
First, the light waves coming 
from the farthest reaches of the

36
00:01:36,846 --> 00:01:38,556
universe would be very dim.

37
00:01:38,556 --> 00:01:41,726
In order to catch that very dim 
light, the telescope would need

38
00:01:41,726 --> 00:01:43,102
a very big mirror.

39
00:01:43,102 --> 00:01:46,773
The mirror on the James Webb 
Space Telescope is made up of 18

40
00:01:46,773 --> 00:01:49,567
panels and is more than 21 feet 
across.

41
00:01:49,567 --> 00:01:52,529
Te Plate: And in order to make 
this telescope work, we need to

42
00:01:52,529 --> 00:01:55,323
cool it down to really cool 
temperatures, because if we

43
00:01:55,323 --> 00:01:58,576
wouldn't do that, the telescope 
would only see it, it would

44
00:01:58,576 --> 00:02:00,370
basically see its own glow.

45
00:02:00,370 --> 00:02:03,081
It would see itself glowing and 
we don't want that.

46
00:02:03,081 --> 00:02:05,917
So therefore we cool it down, 
you know, we go to like really

47
00:02:05,917 --> 00:02:08,962
low temperatures and then only 
then we can measure those super

48
00:02:08,962 --> 00:02:11,047
weak infrared signals.

49
00:02:11,047 --> 00:02:12,423
Cartan-Hansen: How cold?

50
00:02:12,423 --> 00:02:15,426
How about minus 450 degrees 
Fahrenheit, colder than the

51
00:02:15,426 --> 00:02:18,012
surface of Pluto.

52
00:02:18,012 --> 00:02:21,224
To keep the cold side of the 
telescope really cold, the

53
00:02:21,224 --> 00:02:23,309
telescope uses a giant heat 
shield.

54
00:02:23,309 --> 00:02:27,355
The shield is about the size of 
a giant tennis court and keeps

55
00:02:27,355 --> 00:02:30,650
the sun and heat from the earth 
and other space objects away

56
00:02:30,650 --> 00:02:32,068
from the telescope.

57
00:02:32,068 --> 00:02:35,405
This heat shield needed to be 
light, durable and, like all

58
00:02:35,405 --> 00:02:38,616
other parts of the telescope had 
to do one other thing.

59
00:02:38,616 --> 00:02:41,744
Te Plate: So it's so big that it 
doesn't fit in even the world's

60
00:02:41,744 --> 00:02:44,706
largest rockets, so it needs to 
be folded up.

61
00:02:44,706 --> 00:02:48,710
And then in space, it will like 
unfold itself, you know, like a

62
00:02:48,710 --> 00:02:50,211
gigantic piece of origami.

63
00:02:50,211 --> 00:02:53,756
Cartan-Hansen: The James Webb 
Space Telescope was launched on

64
00:02:53,756 --> 00:02:57,594
December 25th, 2021 and spent 
its first 30 days unfolding and

65
00:02:57,594 --> 00:02:59,345
traveling to where it will orbit 
the earth.

66
00:02:59,345 --> 00:03:03,016
Te Plate: We're sending it to 
this place called a second

67
00:03:03,016 --> 00:03:06,102
Lagrange point, which is about a 
million miles away from the

68
00:03:06,102 --> 00:03:10,023
earth, which is similar to four 
times the distance from the

69
00:03:10,023 --> 00:03:11,190
earth to the moon.

70
00:03:11,190 --> 00:03:13,818
So it's really, really, really 
far away.

71
00:03:13,818 --> 00:03:16,571
And we do that mainly for 
thermal reasons.

72
00:03:16,571 --> 00:03:19,824
We need to be far away from the 
earth, far away from the sun.

73
00:03:19,824 --> 00:03:23,202
And that's what we do by sending 
it to the second Lagrange point.

74
00:03:23,202 --> 00:03:25,622
Cartan-Hansen: Once in place and 
after a

75
00:03:25,622 --> 00:03:27,123
several-month-testing-period.

76
00:03:27,123 --> 00:03:29,792
The James Webb Space Telescope 
should start sending back

77
00:03:29,792 --> 00:03:30,835
images.

78
00:03:30,835 --> 00:03:33,838
Te Plate: We wanna look at the 
really early universe, so that's

79
00:03:33,838 --> 00:03:34,339
gonna be super exciting.

80
00:03:34,339 --> 00:03:37,592
You know, this is like uncharted 
terrain.

81
00:03:37,592 --> 00:03:38,801
We've never done that.

82
00:03:38,801 --> 00:03:41,429
It's gonna be the first time 
that we'll see that.

83
00:03:41,429 --> 00:03:43,890
So I'm super interested in those 
first results.

84
00:03:43,890 --> 00:03:46,893
Cartan-Hansen: Te Plate explains 
that because light travels at a

85
00:03:46,893 --> 00:03:49,854
finite speed, the speed of 
light, looking at images so far

86
00:03:49,854 --> 00:03:52,649
away is kind of like looking 
back in time.

87
00:03:52,649 --> 00:03:55,777
Te Plate: So when I'm looking at 
sun, it's basically I'm looking

88
00:03:55,777 --> 00:03:58,821
at the sun, how it was like 
eight minutes ago because the

89
00:03:58,821 --> 00:04:01,366
light takes some time to get to 
my eyes.

90
00:04:01,366 --> 00:04:04,327
So when I'm looking outside and 
I'm looking at stars, that light

91
00:04:04,327 --> 00:04:07,288
has been traveling for millions 
sometimes billions of years.

92
00:04:07,288 --> 00:04:11,584
So you can compare the universe 
to a photo book, uh, that you

93
00:04:11,584 --> 00:04:14,420
and I have, you know, it has 
like pictures from when, uh, we

94
00:04:14,420 --> 00:04:17,924
were like really young babies, 
toddlers, then young children

95
00:04:17,924 --> 00:04:20,259
and then teenagers and, you 
know, eventually old men or

96
00:04:20,259 --> 00:04:21,302
women.

97
00:04:21,302 --> 00:04:25,139
With Hubble, we've looked 
really, really deep into the

98
00:04:25,139 --> 00:04:26,057
universe.

99
00:04:26,057 --> 00:04:29,852
So we've looked very now, far 
back in time, really billions

100
00:04:29,852 --> 00:04:31,187
and billions of years.

101
00:04:31,187 --> 00:04:33,398
But if we go back to that 
comparison of the photo book, we

102
00:04:33,398 --> 00:04:37,819
haven't quite seen those baby 
pictures, those toddler

103
00:04:37,819 --> 00:04:40,822
pictures, we've seen all the 
pictures, you know, when the

104
00:04:40,822 --> 00:04:44,200
universe was a little older, but 
we've never seen the universe at

105
00:04:44,200 --> 00:04:45,785
a very young stage.

106
00:04:45,785 --> 00:04:48,246
And that's exactly what Webb's 
gonna do.

107
00:04:48,246 --> 00:04:51,040
Cartan-Hansen: Unlike the Hubble 
telescope, if anything goes

108
00:04:51,040 --> 00:04:53,710
wrong, the James Webb Space 
Telescope is so far out in space

109
00:04:53,710 --> 00:04:55,461
that we can't repair it.

110
00:04:55,461 --> 00:04:58,506
Engineers thought of that and 
put in duplicate systems that

111
00:04:58,506 --> 00:05:01,676
might be able to take over and 
fix any problems.

112
00:05:01,676 --> 00:05:04,721
The James Webb Space Telescope 
has about 10 years' worth of

113
00:05:04,721 --> 00:05:05,430
fuel to keep it going.

114
00:05:05,430 --> 00:05:08,850
After that it will go 
dark.unless we can invent a way

115
00:05:08,850 --> 00:05:12,854
to refuel it.something engineers 
are already working on.

116
00:05:12,854 --> 00:05:16,315
Te Plate says this telescope is 
a new milestone in the history

117
00:05:16,315 --> 00:05:18,526
of space exploration.

118
00:05:18,526 --> 00:05:21,571
Te Plate: And I'm also super 
excited about what we're gonna

119
00:05:21,571 --> 00:05:23,656
do, uh, regarding these 
exo-planets, you know, maybe

120
00:05:23,656 --> 00:05:28,244
we'll find planets that somehow 
are like similar to earth.

121
00:05:28,244 --> 00:05:31,205
You know, maybe we find 
atmospheres that have like a

122
00:05:31,205 --> 00:05:33,750
similar molecular composition, 
who knows?

123
00:05:33,750 --> 00:05:36,419
But what I think is most 
exciting is that we we'll

124
00:05:36,419 --> 00:05:40,965
actually, uh, get answers to 
questions that we currently

125
00:05:40,965 --> 00:05:42,759
don't even have.

126
00:05:42,759 --> 00:05:45,136
So the surprises, that is what I 
mean.

127
00:05:45,136 --> 00:05:48,014
I mean like the Hubble, you 
know, the big discoveries were

128
00:05:48,014 --> 00:05:51,517
like really big surprises, you 
know, the stuff that nobody ever

129
00:05:51,517 --> 00:05:52,602
thought of.

130
00:05:52,602 --> 00:05:54,562
And I hope that James Webb will 
be able to do something really

131
00:05:54,562 --> 00:05:55,354
similar.

132
00:05:55,354 --> 00:05:58,816
Cartan-Hansen: If you want to 
learn more about astronomy,

133
00:05:58,816 --> 00:06:00,943
check out the science trek 
website.

134
00:06:00,943 --> 00:06:03,613
You'll find it at science trek 
dot org.

135
00:06:03,613 --> 00:06:24,092
[MUSIC]

136
00:06:24,092 --> 00:06:26,636
ANNOUNCER: Presentation of 
Science Trek on Idaho Public

137
00:06:26,636 --> 00:06:29,597
Television is made possible 
through the generous support of

138
00:06:29,597 --> 00:06:32,391
the Laura Moore Cunningham 
Foundation, committed to

139
00:06:32,391 --> 00:06:36,145
fulfilling the Moore and Bettis 
family legacy of building the

140
00:06:36,145 --> 00:06:37,855
great state of Idaho.

141
00:06:37,855 --> 00:06:40,483
By the Idaho National 
Laboratory, mentoring talent and

142
00:06:40,483 --> 00:06:45,905
finding solutions for energy and 
security challenges, by The

143
00:06:45,905 --> 00:06:48,658
Friends of Idaho Public 
Television and by the

144
00:06:48,658 --> 00:06:51,702
Corporation for Public 
Broadcasting.