MGA Played A Small But Significant Part Of James Webb Space Telescope Development

In a way, Middle Georgia State University was along for the ride when NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope launched into the cosmos during the early morning hours of Christmas Day 2021.

Years earlier, the University’s Institute for Applied Aerospace Research (IAAR), based on the School of Aviation campus in Eastman, worked on several major to small assemblies, components, parts, and test articles related to the telescope’s development.

Read more about MGA's involvement here.

Clockwise: The Integrated Equipment Compartment shell developed by Rick Krontz and his students at MGA's Institute for Applied Aerospace Research; the same shell equipped with radiator panels during James Webb Space Telescope assembly; two photos of Krontz and some of the student interns he worked with over the years at the institute.

UPDATE (7.13.22): NASA Reveals Webb Telescope’s First Images of Unseen Universe. 

 This landscape of “mountains” and “valleys” speckled with glittering stars is actually the edge of a nearby, young, star-forming region called NGC 3324 in the Carina Nebula. Captured in infrared light by NASA’s new James Webb Space Telescope, this image reveals for the first time previously invisible areas of star birth. Credits: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI

Image: NASA