EADS Astrium has won another key contract from the European Space Agency (ESA), valued at $84 million, to build the NIRSpec super-eye for the James Webb Space Telescope.

The 200-Kg spectrograph is able to detect the faintest radiation from the most distant galaxies, and it can observe more than 100 objects simultaneously. The instrument must be able to operate at a temperature of 238 degrees. The launch of the telescope is not expected until mid 2011 on board an Ariane 5 launcher.