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[ATMOSPHERIC MUSIC]

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Since the first astronomers
pointed telescopes

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at the heavens, they have
sought to see more, see farther,

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see deeper.

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Space astronomy changed
on April 24, 1990,

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with the launch of the
Space Shuttle Discovery,

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carrying aboard it the
Hubble Space Telescope.

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A lot of people think we
launched Hubble into space

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to put it closer to the
stars, but the real reason

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lies in that old children's
song, "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little

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Star."

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We all know that song, and
it describes a very real

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phenomenon.

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The Earth's atmosphere
both distorts and blocks

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light coming in from space.

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In space, beyond the atmosphere,
the stars don't twinkle,

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they shine steady,
and that allows

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you to get the
stunning images we've

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become accustomed to
seeing from Hubble.

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But that wasn't
Hubble's only benefit.

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It's also one of NASA's
great observatories.

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These are general
purpose telescopes

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designed to be able
to observe anything

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and everything in the cosmos.

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There are a lot of observatories
in space, but most of them

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are designed to answer one
or two specific questions.

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Hubble was built to be
as inclusive as possible.

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It was supposed to
answer as many questions

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as you could think
to ask, at least as

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far as its design allowed.

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And Hubble succeeded
splendidly at that.

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We've seen planet-wide
dust storms on Mars.

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We've seen the astonishingly
strong and surprisingly

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variable auroras of Saturn.

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We've looked deep into dense
star clusters containing

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tens of thousands to
millions of stars.

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We've examined the
birth of these clusters

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as they emerge from the
interstellar clouds.

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And we've watched stars
die, some releasing

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their outer layers
gently into space

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like smoke rings, others
forming cosmic butterflies,

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some expiring in
tremendous explosions

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that blast their material
across the cosmos,

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expanding for tens of
thousands of light years

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until their remnants
ultimately fade away.

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We've explored the
varieties of galaxies,

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some with beautiful
spiral shapes

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and some with vast ellipsoidal
collections of hundreds

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of billions of stars,
and we've seen galaxies

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in massive clusters of thousands
arrayed through space and time.

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This is perhaps the
most important image

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Hubble has ever taken, the
Hubble Ultra Deep Field.

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It shows us galaxies
stretched all the way

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across the universe--

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5, 6, 10 billion
light years away.

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This is light that's
taken billions of years

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to reach us in our
corner of the universe

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so we see these galaxies
not as they are today

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but as they were when
the light left them,

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like getting a postcard in
the mail that's been traveling

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for a very, very long time.

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And in the end, we see nothing.

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Is that because we've reached
the end of the universe?

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No.

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What we've reached is the
limit of Hubble's vision.

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As amazing as Hubble
has been, we've

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come up against the
immutable reality

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that Hubble can't, in
fact, see everything.

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To carry us farther,
to step beyond Hubble,

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we need the James
Webb Space Telescope.

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Like Hubble, Webb is a
general-purpose observatory.

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And like Hubble, Webb
will orbit in space,

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giving it the clarity
that comes from being

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beyond Earth's atmosphere.

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The Webb telescope
sees infrared light,

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which is visible
to the human eye,

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though we still
perceive it as heat.

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Putting an infrared
telescope like Webb in space

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is going to open entirely new
regions of the universe to us.

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To understand this, you need a
little astronomical background.

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You've probably all heard that
our universe is expanding,

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but what you may not know
is that, as it expands,

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the light traveling through the
universe also gets stretched.

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So what started out as visible
light and ultraviolet light,

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the two types of
light the earliest

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objects in the universe emitted
most strongly, is changed.

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It's stretched into
another wavelength--

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infrared light.

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If we want to see the earliest
objects in the universe,

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we have to see that
faint infrared glow.

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So why haven't we
done this before?

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Well, we have.

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We launched the Spitzer
Space Telescope,

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which isn't as well
known as Hubble,

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but has made incredible
discoveries of its own

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with the infrared
capabilities Hubble lacks.

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But when it comes to
resolution, Spitzer's images

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are a lot more
like ground images

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than they are like
Hubble images.

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To get Hubble-quality
images in infrared light,

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we need something more.

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We need a giant mirror.

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Spitzer's mirror is just
over 2 and 1/2 feet across.

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Hubble's mirror is
about eight feet across.

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So that's about a bit
taller than a human being.

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And Webb's mirror uses 18
hexagonal mirror segments

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to create a reflective surface
more than 21 feet across,

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almost two stories tall.

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Clearly that's pretty big.

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How do we get something
that size into space?

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Obviously we can't
ship it like this.

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The answer is origami.

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We are going to fold Webb
up inside the rocket that

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launches it into orbit.

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Once it's in space,
it starts to unfold.

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The massive mirror opens up.

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Its tennis-court-size
sun shield,

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which will protect it from
unwanted infrared emissions

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from the Sun, Earth,
and Moon stretches out,

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and all this happens while it
travels approximately a million

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miles away, to a point farther
away from our planet than even

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the Moon.

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So what are we going to
get for all this effort?

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[STIRRING ORCHESTRAL THEME]

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We are going to be able to
see past all these galaxies

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in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field.

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We're going to be able to
see beyond even the most

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distant red dots
in these images,

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the tiny, newly-formed galaxies
at the very edges of Hubble's

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vision.

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We're going to see the most
distant and earliest galaxies

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in the universe, the
first stars and galaxies

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to form after the Big Bang.

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We call these objects the
universe's first light.

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Hubble has been able to observe,
the adult, teenage and child

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galaxies of the universe.

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Webb will see the
toddlers and infants,

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filling in our story of
galaxy formation and evolution

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as surely as adding missing
photos into a family album

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reveals how humans grow
and change over time.

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But this isn't the
only area where

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we know where we'll
provide breakthroughs.

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This is Hubble's
image of the Eagle

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Nebula, the famous
Pillars of Creation photo.

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Inside these pillars of gas and
dust, new stars are forming,

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but we can't see them because
the dust blocks visible light.

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But it doesn't block infrared
anywhere near as well.

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Infrared light can beam
through the nebula,

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and if we can see it, we can see
the newly-formed stars within.

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Hubble's view of
the Orion Nebula

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shows hundreds of newborn
stars only a couple

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million years old,
but if we zoom in

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on Spitzer's infrared
image, we see thousands more

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hidden inside.

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Orion is a place where we
get the best view of not just

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star formation, but also of
the new solar systems forming

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around those stars.

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We know that planets,
new earths, new Saturns,

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new Jupiters, are forming inside
these dark dust rings, what

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we call interplanetary disks.

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But we can't see them.

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They're hidden behind the dust.

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Webb's infrared
vision will allow

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us to see through
these opaque clouds

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so we can discover how
solar systems like our own

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came into being.

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We will be able to see what
our own solar system would

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have looked like after
the sun had formed

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but before Earth existed.

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And Webb's vision is
going to take us even

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farther than that to
individual planets

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beyond our solar system.

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This isn't one of Hubble's
most dazzling images,

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but it is an important one.

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Several planets are
orbiting around this star,

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but their light is lost in
the bright glare of their sun.

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If we can remove
the star's light,

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we can see the planets, these
bright dots you see here.

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This is an infrared observation.

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Planets which don't shine
with their own visible light

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are usually brightest
in infrared.

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The best way to
observe planets is

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with a high-resolution
infrared Space Telescope,

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but Webb will be able to take
even that another step further.

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Some extrasolar planets,
from our point of view,

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pass in front of their stars.

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When that happens, some
of the star's light

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passes through the
planet's atmosphere.

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We can analyze that
light and measure things

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about the atmosphere
of that distant world.

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So what does that mean for us?

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Well, here is the
plotted infrared light

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of three different planets.

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You're seeing the
differences in those planets

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that indicate the presence
of carbon dioxide, ozone,

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and water.

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These are the
telltale differences

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between Venus, Mars, and Earth.

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The first signs of life
elsewhere in the universe

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will not be photographs of
civilizations or a visit

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by little green men,
it will be features

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in the atmospheric spectrum
of an extrasolar planet

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that show biological activity.

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And that's what Webb
has the potential

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to give us, that tremendously
exciting discovery.

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[HOUSE MUSIC]

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So when is all this
going to happen?

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Webb is scheduled to launch
in 2018, just six years away.

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An enormous amount of
the work on the telescope

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has already been completed.

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All of Webb's 18 segments
have been ground, polished,

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coated, and tested.

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Its cameras and
other instruments

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are nearing completion
or in their final stages.

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But since Webb will be
located a million miles away,

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it has to be perfect
before it launches,

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so we're testing everything.

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The pieces get tested
separately, then together,

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then as part of the
actual telescope.

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They're tested to make sure they
work in the extremes of space

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and that they can survive
the violence of launch.

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When it's time to test them as
part of the entire telescope,

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they're brought to NASA's
largest test chamber,

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this cavern-like thermal
vacuum chamber at Johnson Space

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Center which is being
refitted especially for Webb.

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If it looks familiar,
that's because it's

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famous for being used to test
the Apollo space vehicles.

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It seems fitting that
that chamber used

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to prepare humanity for
its first true exposure

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to the heavens is also where
NASA's next great space

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observatory is coming together.

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Every decade,
astronomers conduct

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a survey to determine
the astronomy community's

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top priorities.

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Webb is their
number one priority.

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This is the observatory they
want above everything else.

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We've already explored some
of the reasons why, but not

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the most important reason.

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If Hubble is any guide, Webb's
most important contributions

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to our understanding
of the universe

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will probably surprise us.

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Because it was designed as a
general-purpose observatory

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that is extremely versatile,
the Webb Space Telescope

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will be able to answer
the questions we have

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and then move on to
questions that we haven't yet

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thought to ask.

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For example, before
Hubble, we thought

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the expansion of the
universe was slowing down,

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but Hubble made
crucial discoveries

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to confirm that, actually,
it's speeding up,

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and for that to
happen, there may

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exist some form of
strange dark energy.

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This discovery won its
scientist the Nobel Prize

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in physics this year.

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The universe doesn't always
work the way we think it does.

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It surprises us again and again.

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We've only begun to chip
away at the mysteries that

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are out there, and Webb, because
it's designed for this purpose,

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will be able to explore,
confirm, or deny

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these discoveries as they arise.

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[STIRRING PIANO MUSIC]

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And that is the
true power of Webb--

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its potential for unbounded
discovery, its ability

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to reveal wonders we
didn't even know existed.

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That capability perhaps
more than anything else

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makes Webb the future
of space astronomy.

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