An anxious crowd of astronomers has dubbed the Jame Webb Space Telescope a “Christmas miracle”, and it is now on the launchpad, ready to take off to orbit.
After years of delays in its construction, the launch of the telescope was delayed for months. The first planned launch date is supposed to take place in 2007.
The observatory is now set to take off on December 25, with a launch window between 07:20 ET (12:20 GMT) and 07:52 ET (12:52 GMT).
The fairing was fitted with an Ariane 5 rocket and the Ariane 5 rocket was moved to the French Guiana European Space Agency launch pad.
NASA TV and its website will show live coverage from the launch starting at 11:00 GMT (06:00 ET).
Officials said that Ariane 5 was in great shape. The only issue was with the launch due to the beginning of French Guiana’s rainy season.
An anxious crowd of astronomers has dubbed the Jame Webb Space Telescope a “Christmas miracle”, and it is now on the launchpad, ready to take off for space.
After years of delays in its construction, the launch of the telescope was delayed for months. The first planned launch date is supposed to have been 2007
The James Web Telescope (also known as JWST and Webb) was first started in 1996. NASA only had a 500 million dollar budget at that time to finish it.
It was originally scheduled to be launched in 2007 but it suffered from technical and cost issues that forced the agency to redesign its design in 2005. This led to the first delay.
The telescope’s construction was complete in 2016. Testing could begin in 2016 but the sunshield broke during a practice run two years later, leading to another delay.
The coronavirus pandemic of 2020 caused further delays.
James Webb arrived in French Guiana on October 20, 2021 after a 16-day voyage aboard the MN Colibri. He was then removed from his transport container before launch preparations.
NASA says that the first fuelling operation began November 25, and took around 10 days.
After the Ariane 5 rocket had been launched on Saturday December 11, the Guiana Space Center placed the space telescope onto the Ariane 5 rocket.
Mother Nature has other plans, and this mission will be completed a day later.
NASA announced that James Webb will begin the’most complex series of deployments’ ever performed in space, approximately 28 minutes following its final blast-off.
Now, the observatory will take flight on December 25th with launch windows between 07:20 ET (12.20 GMT) and 07.52 ET (12.52 GMT).
The rocket was loaded in the fairing of an Ariane 5 Rocket, which it then moved to the launchpad at the European Space Agency facility, French Guiana.
Because it is so big, NASA says that the origami-style folding was done to make the rocket fit. The rocket then unfurled ‘like Transformer’ into space.
Mark McCaughrean (ESA Webb Interdisciplinary Scientist) has waited for more than twenty-years to be able to collect data with Webb.
MailOnline asked him if he was nervous about the rocket’s launch. It had been successfully tested, simulated, and ready to go, and he believed in engineers.
He said, “Launch is always an issue, because you have sat an expensive bit of kit on a barely controlled explosion. But it is what we do and the Ariane 5 works well,”
Officials have confirmed that Ariane 5 is in excellent condition. However, the launch had to be halted by the rainy season beginning in French Guiana.
It’s so big that NASA folded it origami-style to make room in the rocket. Then, NASA said, the rocket unfolded ‘like Transformers in space’, spreading out its mirrors in order to capture light from far in the history.
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.
Webb, primarily an infrared telescope will offer a greater range of view than Hubble. Webb also operates in a solar orbit, further away from Earth. The rocket will be launched on an Ariane 5 European Space Agency rocket, from Kourou (French Guiana).
Even if everything goes according to plan, many astronomers won’t be able to see the “scary” part until weeks later when the observatory is in its solar orbit.
Webb will travel to an orbit about one million miles away from Earth and undergo six months of commissioning in space – including unfolding its mirrors and sunshield, cooling down, aligning and calibrating.
NASA states that “astronomers around the world will be then able to perform scientific observations to expand our understanding of this universe.”
Named after James E. Webb (American government official, who served as NASA administrator from 1961 through 1968) and was an integral part of the Apollo program.
NASA’s decision to name the device after him was a controversial one – he has been accused of homophobia since his passing in 1992 due to his role in the 1963 firing of a gay NASA employee.
NASA declared in October that it would not change the name of the James Webb Telescope before December’s launch, despite opposition from some who had petitioned against honoring a pioneer in space.
Webb died at 85 in 1992. He was second NASA administrator. In 1961, John F. Kennedy asked Webb to take over.
He was the head of the agency from 1968 to 1968, and was instrumental in creating the Apollo programs. These would eventually see Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong walk on the Moon the year after he left.
Webb is primarily an infrared telescope. It will be more visible than Hubble, and it will operate farther out than the Earth in a solar orbit.
McCaughrean claimed that JWST decreases the ceiling for objects. The telescope is also cold at -230 Celsius, which means it emits less infrared radiation, meaning astronomers do not have to fight the Earth’s infrared.
Webb can take photos ten times sharper and hundreds times more detailed than Hubble’s, but he will also be able to do so with a digital camera.
Hubble lies approximately 340 miles above Earth’s surface. Webb is over one million miles away.
The James Web Telescope (also known as JWST and Webb) was first started in 1996. NASA only had a 500 million dollar budget at that time to finish it.
The telescope will observe the Universe in the near-infrared and mid-infrared – at wavelengths longer than visible light. It is equipped with a range of high-tech cameras, spectrographs, and coronagraphs to do this.
Ohio State University research claims that James Webb could have discovered signs of alien life in five years from the time it goes online.
Caprice Phillips, a graduate student, calculated that the device could detect ammonia from living organisms around dwarf planets gas after only a few orbits.
James Webb Space Telescope is described as “a time machine” that can help uncover the mysteries of the universe. It emits light from distant objects further back in space and could be used to unravel these secrets.
It will allow you to see back the first galaxies formed in the beginning universe over 13.5 billion years ago.
Ohio State University research claims that James Webb could have discovered signs of alien life within five years after it goes online
The James Webb will begin “the most complicated sequence of space missions ever undertaken” approximately 28 minutes after it’s final blast off.
It can also monitor the stars, exoplanets and the moons and other planets within our solar system.
The potential of the Webb telescope has inspired thousands of astronomers all over the globe.
Webb could be used by one research group to see the “cosmic dawn”, which is the moment of first light that was given to the first stars billions years ago in the universe.
James Webb was designed for five years, but NASA expects it to be around for at least a decade. This is similar to Hubble’s longevity of decades. However, unlike Hubble, it can not easily be repaired.
The telescope will observe the Universe in the near-infrared and mid-infrared – at wavelengths longer than visible light. The telescope is outfitted with state-of the-art cameras and spectrographs as well as coronagraphs.
ESA will procure the Ariane 5 rocket and launch services. ESA also contributes the NIRSpec instrument as well as a portion of the MIRI Instrument.
These first images are not intended to be used as a guideline, but will serve to test the system. It could also copy Hubble or take an image showing Jupiter.
The first year of observations could be spent on exoplanets. These will study the orbits of their sizes and atmospheres in order to find alien life.