NASA Science Solar System Exploration

Skip Navigation

menu close modal

Missions › James Webb Space Telescope

James Webb Space Telescope

Artist's concept of the Webb Space Telescope. Credit: Northrop Grumman

Goals	Webb is a next-generation space telescope capable of studying every phase in the development of our Universe.
Launch Date	~2021
Science Targets	Our Solar System, Beyond Our Solar System
Type	Orbiter
Agency	NASA
Mission Website	https://jwst.nasa.gov/index.html

Related News

This Hubble image shows a post-starburst galaxy, which is a product of galaxies that have merged within the past billion years.

Hubble Gazes Upon Cosmic Wonderland

Hubble Gazes Upon Cosmic Wonderland

Astronomers have caught a rare look at a rapidly fading shroud of gas around an aging star.

Hubble Captures Unprecedented Fading of Stingray Nebula

Hubble Captures Unprecedented Fading of Stingray Nebula

NASA has selected two SmallSat missions to share a ride to space in 2025 with the agency’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe.

NASA Selects Heliophysics Missions

NASA Selects Heliophysics Missions

SOHO’s original operating phase was scheduled for two years – and now, through repeated extensions, it is celebrating 25 years in orbit.

Sun-Observing SOHO Mission Celebrates a Quarter-Century in Space

Sun-Observing SOHO Mission Celebrates a Quarter-Century in Space

A small satellite mission to study the lunar water cycle has received NASA approval to proceed to the next phase of development.

NASA Confirms New SIMPLEx Mission Small Satellite to Study Lunar Surface

NASA Confirms New SIMPLEx Mission Small Satellite to Study Lunar Surface

New research indicates less intense, but longer-lasting solar storms surprisingly have bigger effects on satellites’ orbits than the shorter, more severe ones.

Solar Superstorms of the Past Help Identify Risks for Satellites

Solar Superstorms of the Past Help Identify Risks for Satellites

This Hubble image shows a close-up view of galaxy NGC 2770. This galaxy is intriguing, as over time it has hosted four different observed supernovae.

Hubble Snaps Galaxy With Intriguing Supernova Past

Hubble Snaps Galaxy With Intriguing Supernova Past

New Hubble data help explain the reason behind the missing dark matter in galaxy NGC 1052-DF4, which is about 45 million light-years away.

New Hubble Data Explains Missing Dark Matter

New Hubble Data Explains Missing Dark Matter

The Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite will enhance forecasts and provide detailed information on large-scale ocean currents.

Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich Satellite Launched to Monitor Global Ocean

Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich Satellite Launched to Monitor Global Ocean

The galaxy in this Hubble image looks more like a cinnamon bun than a megastructure of stars and gas in space.

Hubble Captures Cosmic Cinnamon Bun

Hubble Captures Cosmic Cinnamon Bun

Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich, the latest in a series of spacecraft designed to monitor our oceans, is ready for launch.

Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich Satellite Prepared for Launch

Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich Satellite Prepared for Launch

Astronomers calculating the amount of dust in galaxies have found more dust than expected, and they don’t know where it’s coming from.

Webb Telescope to Investigate Intertwined Origins of Dust and Life

Webb Telescope to Investigate Intertwined Origins of Dust and Life

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope marked a significant testing milestone with the deployment of a critical structure: the Deployable Tower Assembly.

NASA's Webb Completes Significant Testing Milestone

NASA's Webb Completes Significant Testing Milestone

NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will detect vestiges of sound waves that once rippled through the primordial cosmic sea.

Roman Space Telescope to Uncover Echoes of the Universe's Creation

Roman Space Telescope to Uncover Echoes of the Universe's Creation

The first rover to be rigged with microphones, Perseverance picked up sounds of its inner workings during flight.

Hear Audio From NASA's Perseverance As It Travels Through Deep Space

Hear Audio From NASA's Perseverance As It Travels Through Deep Space

Scientists using NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft discovered that water vapor near the surface of Mars is lofted higher into the atmosphere than expected.

Heat and Dust Help Launch Martian Water Into Space, Scientists Find

Heat and Dust Help Launch Martian Water Into Space, Scientists Find

Plumes of water vapor that may be venting into space from Jupiter's moon Europa could come from within the icy crust itself, according to new research.

Potential Plumes on Europa Could Come From Water in the Crust

Potential Plumes on Europa Could Come From Water in the Crust

Mars is about to get a new stream of weather reports, once NASA's Perseverance rover touches down on Feb. 18, 2021.

Mars Is Getting a New Robotic Meteorologist

Mars Is Getting a New Robotic Meteorologist

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has a new selfie. This latest is from a location named "Mary Anning," after a 19th-century English paleontologist.

NASA's Curiosity Takes Selfie With 'Mary Anning' on the Red Planet

NASA's Curiosity Takes Selfie With 'Mary Anning' on the Red Planet

Long ago and far across the universe, an enormous burst of gamma rays unleashed more energy in a half-second than the Sun will produce in its lifetime.

Hubble Sees Unexplained Brightness from Colossal Explosion

Hubble Sees Unexplained Brightness from Colossal Explosion

An independent review indicates NASA is ready to undertake its Mars Sample Return campaign to bring pristine samples from Mars to Earth.

Review Indicates NASA Prepared for Mars Sample Return Campaign

Review Indicates NASA Prepared for Mars Sample Return Campaign

Mark your calendars: NASA's latest rover has only about 100 days to go before it touches down on the Red Planet, becoming history's next Mars car.

NASA's Perseverance Rover 100 Days Out

NASA's Perseverance Rover 100 Days Out

To better understand stars, the Space Telescope Science Institute has launched a new initiative with Hubble called ULLYSES.

Hubble Launches Large Ultraviolet-Light Survey of Nearby Stars

Hubble Launches Large Ultraviolet-Light Survey of Nearby Stars

In April, a magnetar blasted out a mix of X-ray and radio signals never observed before - including the first fast radio burst in the Milky Way.

NASA Missions Help Pinpoint the Source of a Unique X-ray, Radio Burst

NASA Missions Help Pinpoint the Source of a Unique X-ray, Radio Burst

On Oct. 29, mission operators sent commands to Voyager 2 for the first time since mid-March. Voyager 2 confirmed it had received the "call."

NASA Contacts Voyager 2 Using Upgraded Deep Space Network Dish

NASA Contacts Voyager 2 Using Upgraded Deep Space Network Dish

Saturn's Moon Titan Poster - Version C

Saturn's Moon Titan Poster - Version C

Geyser Basin in 3-D (video)

Geyser Basin in 3-D (video)

Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) Over Utah

Comet C/2020 F3 (NEOWISE) Over Utah