Explore the construction of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and the design of its primary mirror. This activity outlines three engineering issues. You may choose to explore any single issue or all three. What is the best way to make a large mirror that can go into space? How can we get the telescope to fit in the launch vehicle? Will the telescope survive launch?

This Engineering activity includes practical modelling and includes a strong mathematical connection to tessellations. An optional section includes discovering how telescopes work and comparing the JWST to the Hubble Space Telescope.

Thank you for the contributions to this activity from Polar Star teacher advisors Karen Billingham, Dr. Semra Demircali, Maria Eleftheriou, Paula Galvin and Daniela de Paulis. 

The activity was created within the POLAR STAR project, co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the European Union (2019-1-FI01-KA201-060780).

Find out more: http://polar-star.ea.gr/