The James Webb Space Telescope is Finally Launching!

Edited on 12/17/2021 to reflect new launch date from 12/22 to 12/24

This past week has been an exciting one for scientists! The James Webb space telescope is finally being fueled up for launch, after over a decade of delays. These delays were due to numerous budget issues and changes made to the project during its development. The name comes from a prominent NASA administrator who worked on the Apollo program in the early to late sixties. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is essentially the spiritual successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. The JWST is capable of viewing wavelengths of light that the Hubble Space Telescope just wasn’t capable of viewing, thus allowing us to view the universe from an entirely new perspective. The total cost has ended up being around 10 billion USD.

On November 24 a “consent to fuel” review was performed on the mission by engineers, and was given the go-ahead the following day. The launch is planned for December 24, 2021, just in time for Christmas. It will launch from the Guiana Space Centre, in Kourou, French Guiana. After the telescope is launched from Earth, it has about a month of travel time to a Lagrange point - an area of space where “the gravitational pull of two large masses precisely equals the centripetal force required for a small object to move with them”. Put simply, it’s a safe and stable spot for it to orbit. This will give the telescope a stable location to process imagery, and a safe place for it to remain in orbit. The images that scientists are expecting to get from this state-of-the-art telescope will set the foundations for all new avenues of science. It truly is an amazing time to witness new discoveries.

Sources:

“The Launch - Webb/NASA.” Nasa.Gov, 2021, jwst.nasa.gov/content/about/launch.html.

“What Is a Lagrange Point?” NASA Solar System Exploration, 27 Mar. 2018, solarsystem.nasa.gov/resources/754/what-is-a-lagrange-point.

Howell, Elizabeth. “NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope on Track for Dec. 22 Launch.” Space.Com, 30 Nov. 2021, www.space.com/nasa-webb-space-telescope-december-22-launch.

Wikipedia contributors. “James Webb Space Telescope.” Wikipedia, 3 Dec. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Webb_Space_Telescope.

Wikipedia contributors. “James-Webb (télescope spatial).” Wikipedia, 5 Feb. 2022, fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/James-Webb_(t%C3%A9lescope_spatial)#/media/Fichier:James_Webb_Space_Telescope.jpg.