James Webb is preparing to go out into space

On December 25, 2021, the launch of the James Webba (JWST) space telescope will begin. The European Ariane 5 launch vehicle should start from the Cosmodrome in French Guiana at 12:20 GMT (15:20 Moscow time).

The start of the mission was postponed several times due to the complexity of the project, which had to be constantly modified in the process of laboratory tests. As a result, 25 years of work and more than $ 10 billion were spent on it.

JWST is a joint project of NASA and the European Space Agency, in the work of which 17 countries took part. The telescope was named after James Webb, the director of NASA from 1961 to 1968, at which the Apollo program was implemented.

James Webb is the largest space telescope ever created on our planet. He should become the successor of the Hubble telescope, which has worked for more than 30 years and significantly enriched the knowledge of mankind about the structure of the universe.

At the same time, the new telescope has a number of significant differences. He will capture radiation in the infrared range - this will allow you to see what is now not available.

Thanks to James Webb, we will be able to see what was at the very beginning of the universe and find out how the very first galaxies were formed. Another important scientific task of the telescope is the study of exoplanets. Its sensitivity is enough to detect biosigninations (biomarkers) in the atmosphere of planets outside the solar system. For example, substances such as oxygen and water, which is an indirect sign of life.

Unlike Hubbla, JWST will not work in near -Earth orbit, but to move around the Sun at a distance of 1.5 million km from the ground (in the so -called “Lagrange Point”). There will be a whole month to fly there.

James Webb is a complex, fragile and mobile telescope. Its main element is a concave mirror 6.5 meters wide. It consists of 18 hexagonal beryllium plates covered with a thin layer of gold. The focus of the telescope is carried out at the expense of 132 small motors-astures. If at least one of them does not work, the telescope cannot be used.

The telescope is designed for 5-10 years of work. Scientists believe that, unlike Hubble, he is unlikely to work out longer. “James Webb” has a limited fuel supply that he needs in order to regularly correct his orbit using engines. And it will be impossible to deliver fuel or repair the telescope due to its great removal from the Earth.

On December 23, the heavy launch vehicle “Arian-5” was delivered to the starting platform of the Kuru Cosmodrome. At the moment, preparations for launch are underway.