After months of delays NASA’s $10 million James Webb Space Telescope launched successfully on Christmas Day, after a journey of one million miles into the solar orbit.
Hubble’s 30-year-old predecessor Hubble is being replaced by the space telescope. It is 100 times more sensitive than Hubble and will profoundly change scientists’ knowledge of the universe.
Webb has finally entered solar orbit. But Webb’s delay is due to Webb’s sunshield being tightened.
This event was initially scheduled for January 2, but it will take place today.
NASA said that NASA decided to check the sunshield before tightening.
Webb has finally entered solar orbit. But Webb’s delay is due to Webb’s sunshield being tightened.
It is vital that James Webb stays cool, and the sun doesn’t get too hot for his sensitive telescope instruments.
Mike Menzel of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center said, “We have spent twenty years on the ground, with Webb designing, developing and testing.”
“We’ve been able to study the behavior of the observatory in space over the past week. You can often learn about the characteristics of your spacecraft while in flight.
“That’s exactly what we are doing now. We’re pleased with the results of major deployments so far.
“But, we want to be patient and learn as much about the observatory as possible before we move forward.”
The sunshield is crucial for keeping James Webb cool and preventing sunlight from interfering with the sensitive telescope instruments.
NASA explained, “To shield the telescope from external sources such as the Sun, Earth, Moon, and Sun as well as heat emitted from the observatory itself,” Webb uses a five-layer tennis court-sized sunscreen that functions as a parasol to provide shade.
The layers are made of a polyimide film called kapton, which is also used in flexible printed circuits.
Every layer of sunshield below is colder than the previous one, which together reduces the temperature of the observatory to a remarkable 570°F.
Each layer of the sunshield, each successive one is cooler than its predecessor. Together they lower the temperature by an incredible 570 degrees Fahrenheit.
James Cooper, James Webb Space Telescope Sunshield Management at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, stated that five layers were necessary in order to block heat and redirect it to the telescope to temperatures required.
The fifth layer is mainly for margin against imperfections, holes in micro-meteoroids, and the like.
“The gaps between layers provide an extra insulation effect.”
Engineers and scientists jubilantly chanted “Go Webb!” NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, the revolutionary space telescope of NASA, began its journey to solar orbit. It had been decades in planning and delay.
Webb is already years late when he left Earth for space. He will go back almost to the beginning, the time that the first galaxies and stars formed.
NASA will continue to study the power subsystem of the sunshield now that the space telescope has been in orbit for the next several days.
Bill Ochs from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center stated that ‘nothing we can learn by simulations on ground is as good analyzing the observatory once it’s up-and-running.’
“Now is a good time to find out everything you can about their baseline operations.
“Then we will move on to the next step.”
Christmas Day saw the launch of the telescope into space by an Ariane 5 rocket. After taking off from French Guiana’s European Spaceport facility, the rocket took off into the sky over the Atlantic Ocean.
Webb is now travelling to an orbit about one million miles away from Earth and will undergo six months of commissioning in space – including unfolding its mirrors and sunshield, cooling down, aligning and calibrating.