Telescope Hopes To Be Able To See Back To Birth Of First Galaxies By Super Cooling Equipment

MIRI is inspected in the giant clean room at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, in 2012. (NASA,Chris Gunn/Zenger)

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is being deep-frozen to assist it with its latest mission to see the first galaxies formed after the big bang.

Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) – a joint development by NASA and the ESA (European Space Agency) – reached its final operating temperature below 7 kelvins (minus 447 degrees Fahrenheit, or minus 266 degrees Celsius) on April 7.