Webb Telescope Mirror Tech Improves Eye Surgery on Earth

Eye surgery patients on Earth are benefiting from early research on the NASA’s James Webb Telescope’s enormous mirrors.

Manufacturing Large Mirrors

With advanced tech, mirrors can be made with high accuracy.

The James Webb Space Telescope

With the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), mankind’s understanding of the universe — and its origins — will increase exponentially.

Automatic Observation Management System, New Tool to Coordinate Telescope Network

The "AOM" performs complex observations with ten observation modes and 175 strategies.

Need for Larger Space Telescope Inspires Lightweight Flexible Holographic Lens

Holographic lenses render visible and infrared starlight into either a focused image or a spectrum.

Sixth Mirror Casting Brings Giant Magellan Telescope Closer to Completion

At 3 p.m. on March 5, a gigantic furnace slowly started spinning underneath the stands of Arizona Stadium at the University of Arizona. Fire-engine red, massive in...

NEID Spectrometer Lights Up Path to Exoplanet Exploration

NASA's NEID tool delivered its first batch of data on the nearest and best-studied star, our Sun.

New “Metalens” Shifts Focus Without Tilting or Moving

The design may enable miniature zoom lenses for drones, cellphones, or night-vision goggles.

Data Recorders Aid Earth Dust Mission

The Earth Imaging Spectrometer instrument is heading to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2022.

Nanowire Could Provide a Stable Superconducting Transistor

The technology could boost quantum computers and other superconducting electronics.

Giant Telescope Construction Viewed Through an Industrial Lens

Once installed at Las Campanas Observatory in the Chilean Andes, the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) will introduce incredible opportunities for astrophysics.

ZERODUR: The Highly Technical Glass-Ceramic

Highly technical glass-ceramic delivers optical precision at nanometer scale.

NASA’s BITSE Solar Scope

NASA and the Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) recently tested a new way to see the Sun

Vibration Isolator Steadies Optics for NASA's James Webb Space Telescope

Isolators used to control semiconductor manufacturing keep the James Webb Space Telescope steady.

Smart, Hybrid Actuators Combine Nanometer Precision, Large Forces, and Long Travel Ranges with High Dynamics

The characteristics of hybrid drives present a practical solution when a position needs to be detected with high precision

Revolutionary Camera Allows Scientists to Predict Evolution of Ancient Stars

Scientists at the University of Sheffield have been working with HiPERCAM, a high-speed, multicolor camera, which is capable of taking more than 1,000 images per...

Keck Telescopes Get a Motion Control Upgrade

In the middle of the Pacific Ocean, Hawaii Island is surrounded by thousands of miles of thermally stable seas. The 13,796-foot Maunakea mountain summit has no nearby ranges to roil the upper...

The Teletenna — a Hybrid Telescope Antenna System

Innovators at NASA’s Glenn Research Center have developed a hybrid telescope antenna system — Teletenna — to deliver high-data-rate communication over great distances. Teletenna has...

Unique Lift System Enables Installation and Servicing of Large Telescope Mirrors

The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), under construction atop 8,737-foot El Peñón peak in northern Chile, is a partnership project of the National...

NASA at 60: 1958-2018 Decades of Discovery

For six decades, NASA has led the peaceful exploration of space, making discoveries about our planet, our solar system, and our universe. At home, NASA research has made great advances in aviation,...

Lens-Free Fluorescent Microscope

Rice engineers have developed a wide-field microscope thinner than a credit card, small enough to sit on a fingertip and capable of micrometer resolution over a volume of several cubic millimeters.

Space Imaging

The term Space Imaging covers a wide variety of mission types and technologies.

Learn to Trust Your Infrared Camera

It's tough to trust measurements from instruments when you don't have a clear understanding of how their sensitivity and accuracy are derived, and many times infrared cameras fall in this category. In...

Webb Telescope Actuators Move with Microscopic Accuracy

The James Webb Space Telescope will be the most powerful space telescope ever built. With a 21-foot diameter, the telescope’s primary mirror is six times larger than the one used by...

Paper-Folding Techniques Expand Compacted Spacecraft

Origami has once again inspired engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Besides aesthetic beauty, the Japanese tradition of paper-folding addresses a persistent problem...