Model of James Webb Space Telescope, the Hubble’s successor

A model of the JWST, which should launch and unfold in 2018 [update… still not done as of 2021]. It is an enormous structure the size of a tennis court when unfolded from the cylindrical rocket payload bay.

The primary mirror must unfold in space, and engineers have to be able to align each piece to form one smooth surface. Each mirror moves on three axes, and must function at roughly -400°F for the infrared telescope sensor to remain low-noise, so its mirrors must be freezing cold as well. The sensor is a Teledyne HgCdTe sensor that goes to 5.6 micron IR.

Seen on the Sentinel Mission tour of Ball Aerospace.