Launch of James Webb Space Telescope

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST ) is a space telescope jointly developed by NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). It is planned to succeed the Hubble Space Telescope and was initially planned for launch in 2007. After a long wait of 14 years due to budget cuts, intensive testing and complete design changes, JWST is finally scheduled to launch on 2021-12-25T12:20:00Z2021-12-25T12:52:00Z according to Ariane Space’s Website. Even though this launch isn’t visible from Chennai, it is exhilarating to see history being made. The launch can be seen live on youtube here.

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It’s a true giant in size . It is also mentioned as a time machine in space since it can look back at the young forming galaxies from during the period right after big bang . But sadly it is commissioned for only 5-10 years of framework and thus would later loose its fuel to maintain its automatic positioning .

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Good thing is NASA has listed upgrading JWST (right at L2) as one it’s top priorities in the next 10 years. So hopefully they follow through on it.

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At last some good news for the 10 billion dollar telescope .

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Well, NASA says that due to the precision and performance of the Ariane 5 rocket and the mid-course correction maneuver, JWST needs less fuel than planned to correct its trajectory and maintain its position at L2. So, it is highly likely that the mission would exceed its planned 10 year lifetime. You can read more about this here.

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So we can hope for longer exposures :joy:

And a greater chance of discovering something new.

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