The James Webb Space Telescope is close to beginning its mission – a colossal survey across a 13-billion-year span of universal history. Critical to that work will be the performance of Webb's Mid-Infrared Instrument. "(MIRI) is special – in the wavelengths it covers, the science it enables, its (technological) challenges, and in the way it was built," wrote University of Arizona professor of astronomy George Rieke in a blog post with a colleague.