After repeated setbacks, the world’s most powerful space telescope rocketed, piggybacking a European Ariane rocket into the space beyond the galaxy and first stars.
James Webb Space Telescope from NASA was launched from French Guiana, an overseas department of France, on the northeast coast of America Saturday. The rocket that carried the observatory worth $ 10 billion into the sky on Christmas morning was described as a unique Christmas present by NASA’s chief of science mission, Thomas Zurbuchen.
The space telescope will take a month to hurtle towards its destination, at 1.6 million kilometers or 1 million miles away from earth and four times more from the moon. It will take a further five months before it starts to scan the cosmos with its infrared eyes.
The telescope needs to unfurl its enormous sunshield and mirror folded in an origami-style in the rocket’s nose cone. This is essential for the observatory to peer back in time that is just 100 years since the formation of the big bang universe or the largely anticipated 13.7 billion years before that.
According to Bill Nelson, an administrator with NASA, the James Webb telescope is a time machine that will better understand the universe and how humans are placed in it with the eternal questions of who and what we humans are.
Following the launch, Nelson said from Kennedy Space Centre in Florida that they will experience great things never discovered before. There are many things that NASA still needs to work on to make things work perfectly. The greater the risk, the more will be the reward.
James Webb is considered the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, which was named after the 1960s administrator of NASA. This telescope was built with the participation of Canada and European space agencies with NASA. The telescope, which weighs 7 tons, was built with thousands of scientists working since the 1990s from 29 countries.
There were few spectators at the launch site of French Guiana due to the launch falling on Christmas and also because of COVID -19 threats. Nelson bowed out with the contractors who worked on the telescope and delegation from the Congress.
Many anxious astronomers and others kept track worldwide to see the launch finally successful after years of setbacks. Earlier last-minute snags pushed the launch by a week, and later gusty winds made it further to Christmas. Some of the launch controllers celebrated by wearing Santa Clause caps.
Josef Aschbacher, Director General of the European Space Agency, said they delivered a Christmas gift for humanity. He described the launch as a special moment, saying that it was nerve-racking and this kind of launch was not possible every day. Cheers accompanied the launch of the James Webb, which was flawless with scientists embracing one another with shouts of “Go Webb“.
The camera on the rocket provided that last glimpse of the telescope against the earth’s backdrop before speeding away into orbit. The showpiece of the telescope is its 21 feet mirror and protected by a sun shield consisting of five layers crucial for keeping infrared heat detectors at sub-zero temperatures.
The sunshield will open after three days from the lift-off if everything goes right, and it will take another five days to unfold and lock in place. Next, the mirror will open up like leaves when the telescope is 12 days into the flight.
Greg Robinson, program Director of NASA, noted that it would require mechanisms running into hundreds to release different components correctly for the telescope’s success. The series of complex actions is unprecedented and has never been done before.
Massimo Schiavelli, the head of Web mission in Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, says it is their job to start and keep going from here. The institute, which served as the Hubble control hub, now serves as the control hub for the Webb.
Even though the Webb telescope is 100 times more powerful, it won’t be easy to replicate the Hubble Space Telescope act, according to retired astronaut Steven Hawley and Stiavelli.
Hawley is more stressed for Webb than Hubble, released by space shuttle discovery in 1990. The James Webb will be too far away to be rescued in an emergency, unlike Hubble, which developed blurry vision due to defective mirrors and had to be saved.
Repair by astronauts turned Hubble into a marvel that went back 13.4 billion years to understand the phenomenon that revolutionized the universe understanding by humanity. James Webb’s turn to go further up to 13.8 billion years with its infra ray red vision, which is sharper and far-reaching than Hubble’s ultraviolet wavelength, which was shorter.
NASA is aiming for a 10-year operational life of James Webb. They have kept the fuel tank accessible for a top-up by visiting spacecraft when it is possible.
