Axsys Technologies received a definitive $18.6 million contract from Ball Aerospace in 2004 to make lightweight beryllium mirror substrates for the James Webb Space Telescope (Webb). Its work was a key manufacturing stage—not the entire process of producing finished mirrors: Axsys shaped the mirror blanks, while other organizations handled polishing, testing, coating, and assembly.
What Axsys’s 2004 contract covered
Axsys Technologies’ 2004 Form 10-K reports a definitive $18.6 million contract from Ball Aerospace. The scope included an engineering development unit, all 18 primary-mirror segments, and support structures. The filing allocates $9.9 million to production revenue and $8.7 million to facilitization. Axsys recognized $1.0 million of project revenue during 2004 under percentage-of-completion accounting; these are historical contract figures, not present-day prices or projections. Axsys Technologies’ 2004 Form 10-K
The work followed an earlier selection: EE Times reported that Axsys Technologies’ Precision Machined Products division joined the Webb beryllium mirror team in September 2003. EE Times’ 2004 report
What Axsys made—and what it did not
NASA says the mirror blanks, made from beryllium by Brush Wellman, were sent to Axsys Technologies in Cullman, Alabama. Axsys shaped the blanks, removing material from the back to create lightweight segments while retaining structural support. A 2023 technical paper describes the Axsys honeycomb light-weighting process as removing over 92% of the material. NASA’s Webb mirror history · McElwain et al., 2023
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That distinction matters: Axsys shaped and light-weighted substrates; the evidence does not establish that it alone made finished, polished, coated flight mirrors.
How the mirror work was divided
| Stage | Organization or work |
|---|---|
| Beryllium blanks | Brush Wellman made the blanks, according to NASA. |
| Shaping and light-weighting | Axsys Technologies shaped the blanks and removed material from the back, creating a honeycomb structure. |
| Polishing | Tinsley polished the shaped segments. |
| Testing, finishing, and integration | NASA’s account and the 2023 technical paper describe ambient and cryogenic optical testing, further cryogenic polishing, gold coating, a protective overcoat, and flight-acceptance testing across the subsequent process. These were later steps, not Axsys’s shaping work. |
NASA’s mirror history describes the sequence through polishing; the detailed account of subsequent testing and finishing appears in the 2023 technical paper. NASA’s Webb mirror history · McElwain et al., 2023
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How the segments work in Webb
Webb’s primary mirror is made of 18 hexagonal beryllium segments that operate together as one mirror. NASA gives the mirror’s diameter as about 6.5 meters and an individual segment’s mass as approximately 20 kilograms. The telescope’s optical path also includes secondary, tertiary, and fine-steering mirrors. NASA: “Webb’s Mirrors”
NASA describes the precision needed to align the segments this way, attributing the statement to Lee Feinberg, Webb Optical Telescope Element Manager at NASA Goddard: “Aligning the primary mirror segments as though they are a single large mirror means each mirror is aligned to 1/10,000th the thickness of a human hair.” NASA’s Webb FAQs
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How to identify the companies today
For the 2004 contract and historical work, the company name is Axsys Technologies. NASA’s FAQ identifies General Dynamics Global Imaging Technologies as the business formerly known as Axsys Technologies; it also identifies Coherent as formerly Tinsley Laboratories and Materion as formerly Brush Wellman. These later names clarify corporate identity, but do not change which names belong to the historical account. NASA’s Webb FAQs
Quick Recap
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- NO GLUE OR SOLDER NEEDED – Parts can be easily clipped from the metal sheets. Bundle includes tweezers, which are recommended for bending and twisting the connection tabs.
- JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE - 2.75 Sheet Model with a moderate difficulty level. Assembled Size: 4.13 L x 2.75 W x 2.75 H inches. 1:221 Scale. 62 Pieces.
- FROM STEEL SHEETS TO 3D – Pop out the pieces and connect using tabs and holes. Includes illustrated instructions.
- HIGHLY DETAILED ETCHED MODEL – Display your 3D model once completed - collect and build them all.
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