Bruce Jakosky is an Emeritus Professor at the University of Colorado Boulder and University of Washington, has almost 50 years’ experience as a Mars researcher, and was the Principal Investigator of the MAVEN spacecraft mission that has been orbiting and exploring Mars for more than ten years.

The final integration of the telescope's major observatory components took place on Nov. 25 inside NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, where engineers brought together the spacecraft and telescope assemblies in the facility's largest clean room, according to a statement from NASA.