A deep space transponder made in Italy
Northrop Grumman, prime contractor of the project and recognizing the systemic, design and technological capabilities of Rome and L’Aquila plants, has awarded Thales Alenia Space in Italy the contract for the realization of the deep space transponder for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) mission, the space telescope intended to study the “evolution” of the Universe.
The award of the contract was made possible thanks to the heritage shown by the deep space transponders product line initiated with Cassini/Huygens and continued with Mars Express, Venus Express, Rosetta, Lisa Pathfinder and Gaia and culminating with Bepi Colombo en route to Venus.
An electronic device for MIRI made in Belgium
Thales Alenia Space in Belgium supplied to the “Liège Space Centre” an electronic device (ICE) dedicated to control the optical bench for MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument), one of the 4 instruments on-board James Webb. Developed under ESA responsibility, MIRI has two mains parts: the spectrometers and the MIRIM imager.
About James Webb
The James Webb Space Telescope (sometimes called JWST or Webb) is a large infrared telescope with an approximately 6.5 meter primary mirror. The telescope will be on board of Ariane 5 whose launch is planned at the earliest on 24 December, 2021.
Webb will be the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It will study every phase in the history of our Universe, ranging from the first luminous glows after the Big Bang, to the formation of solar systems capable of supporting life on planets like Earth, to the evolution of our own Solar System.
Webb was formerly known as the “Next Generation Space Telescope” (NGST); it was renamed in September 2002 after a former NASA administrator, James Webb.
Webb is an international collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).
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