Super Telescope: Mission to the Edge of the Universe

Science & Engineering1 x 60' for BBC2

Telling the extraordinary engineering story of the most powerful observatory ever built

This film tells the extraordinary engineering story of the most powerful observatory ever built, revealing how it will explore some of the greatest cosmological mysteries hidden in deep space.  Shortly after the first images are beamed back to Planet Earth – we celebrate the magnificent James Webb Space Telescope. 

This successor to the Hubble telescope will look back 13.5 billion years in time, to an era shortly after the Big Bang. For the first time, astronomers will be able to see the earliest stars and galaxies as they materialized in our universe. Its observations will help us understand how galaxies formed and revolutionize the search for life on distant planets.  

The James Webb is arguably the most complex precision instrument ever built. We reveal the innovations that made it possible and show how it took forty years of development before it could begin its journey to the launchpad. The film reveals how they packed a gigantic telescope into a tiny launch pod.

We follow scientists as they download and process some of the very first images that the telescope captures. Immersive CGI animation and expert interviews explore how this telescope will transform our understanding of the origins and evolution of the universe. The film will feature the James Webb Space Telescope’s first images and be ready for broadcast as they are released to the world.  

Director & Producer Martin Gorst
Executive Producer Carlo Massarella
Editor Ian Strang
Additional Editing Hacene Azzoug , Andre Prunetti
DV Director Max Surridge
Additional Camera Alex Collinge , Tom Ranson , George Richardson
Archive Producer Charlie Rodwell
Production Secretaries Violet Crawfurd , Nathan Chapple
Line Producer Farne Sinclair
US Crew Michael Cimpher , Simon Fanthorpe , Stephan Wiesen , Sarah Hunt , Selina Tso , Chad Mellenick , Eli Swenson