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The James Webb Space Telescope Will Follow In Hubble’s Footsteps in 2018

Some two decades in the making, the JWST will probe deep space for the earliest stars and galaxies formed in the universe.
Image Render: NASA

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will launch in October 2018.

The European Space Agency and commercial satellite launch company Arianespace made the announce on Thursday morning. The JWST, intended to be a successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, is a joint project between NASA, the ESA, and the Canadian Space Agency, and will be tasked with seeking out the earliest galaxies in the universe and "following their evolution over time," according to Arianespace.

Work on the project, formerly known as the Next Generation Space Telescope, dates back to 1996.

"The years of hard work and excellent collaboration between the NASA, ESA and Arianespace teams that have made this possible are testimony to their dedication to the world's next great space telescope," said Eric Smith, NASA's JWST program director.

According to NASA, the JWST will have four primary goals once up and running: To study the first stars and galaxies that formed in the universe; to compare the oldest galaxies in the universe to today's "grand spirals and ellipticals"; to look through dust clouds to better understand planet formation; and to study the atmospheres of exoplanets, or planets located outside our solar system.