Utah beryllium to aid study of universe

It won't be long before the world will see the universe through Utah's "eyes."

Beryllium mined in Utah is being used to create a 21-foot-diameter mirror for the James Webb Space Telescope that astronomers will use to study the development of the universe. The telescope is scheduled for launch into space in 2013.

The beryllium is being mined in Juab County and processed at mills there and in Millard County.

"Beryllium is light, easily deployable, provides energy savings and it handles itself under strain in cryogenic temperatures," said Patrick Carpenter, spokesman for Brush Wellman Inc., which owns the Utah mine.

Carpenter said the metal is transformed into a powder, which is then treated with heat and pressure to create a metal slab called a mirror billet. The billet will be split in half like a cookie and further processed into 18 mirror segments. Those segments will be sent to Maryland's Goddard Space Flight Center and arranged into a large hexagon-shaped mirror for the telescope. The piece is so large that it will be folded up like paper before rocketing into space.

"The best move we can make is to launch the James Webb Space Telescope," said Roger Fry, a board member of the Salt Lake Astronomical Society. "It will fill the gap in the diminishing usefulness of the Hubble (telescope) and provide far more spectacular images and have much more capabilities than the Hubble does."

In addition to the mirrors, Utah's ATK Launch Systems is also building the "backplane" of the telescope, which holds the beryllium mirrors.

"It's a really huge project, and it's really exciting," said Kelly Franklin, general manager of ATK's Magna plant.