In this illustration, the multilayered sunshield on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope stretches out beneath the observatory’s honeycomb mirror. The sunshield is the first step in cooling down Webb’s infrared instruments, but the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) requires additional help to reach its operating temperature. (NASA GSFC, CIL, Adriana Manrique Gutierrez/Newsflash)
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is being deep frozen in order to aid in its latest mission to see the first galaxies to form after the big bang. Webb’s Mid-Infrared…