James Webb Telescope (JWT) uses JSON Web Tokens (JWT)

One small step for JavaScript, one giant leap for mankind.

The James Webb Telescope (JWT) is the largest and most powerful space telescope ever built. It will allow us to see further into the universe and answer some of the most fundamental questions about our place in the cosmos.

And it will be using JSON Web Tokens (JWT) to do it.

That’s right, the JWT standard, commonly used for authentication and authorization in web apps, is, by coincidence, the algorithm chosen to understand the secrets of the universe.

“The pun was not intended,” swears NASA, “but it’s a happy coincidence.”

A case study — Sending JSON to the Andromeda Galaxy.

The JWT algorithm has already been used to great success in decoding the light from the nearby Andromeda galaxy.

Unfortunately, the Andromeda galaxy is using an old refresh token that’s about to expire, and NASA is still debating if they should make an exception to their policy.

Alternatively, NASA could wait until the solar system is further away. By then, we would have crossed enough UTC timezones to make the token good for another decade or two.