The telescope will be roughly the size of the Hubble Space Telescope, but not quite as long. What the astronomy community and the general public will receive in exchange for the considerable taxpayer investment of nearly $4 billion is an instrument that can do what other telescopes can't. It will have a sprawling field of view, about 100 times that of the Hubble or Webb space telescopes.
NASA boasts that in the Clean Room you could put nearly 30 tractor-trailers side by side on the floor and stack them 10 high. 'This is the largest clean room in the free world,' Mike Drury, a 40-year veteran of Goddard, said as he led visitors into the busy chamber on a recent Friday.
The assembly of the telescope ramped up this fall, with 600 workers aiming to get everything integrated and tested by late 2026. NASA has committed to launching the telescope no later than May 2027.
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