NASA seems all set to send the James Webb Space Telescope into space for it to begin its universe research. Recently, the space agency announced that the telescope had arrived at its launch site in French Guiana. The journey from NASA’s facility to the launch site was done on a ship in 16 days.
The telescope traveled 5,800 miles and was offloaded from the ship inside its specifically-made container before being driven to its launch site at the Europe Spaceport in Kourou, where it will be prepared for launch.
A time machine to look back
Once at the launch site, the telescope will undergo months of operational preparations before it’s fitted to the Ariane 5 rocket that will ferry it to orbit on December 18. Once in orbit, the James Webb Space Telescope will take some time to perform checkouts and fully deploying before going operational. It is a joint venture, where NASA is leading the way with participation from the ESA and Canadian space agencies.
NASA administrator Bill Nelson says the telescope will look backward in time and observe galaxies as they were 13 billion years ago viewing light created just after the Big Bang. It is basically a time machine that will be able to look at the light that has spent billions of years traveling from its source to be viewable by astronauts on Earth.
Unraveling mysteries of the universe
It took nearly a month to pack the telescope into its custom shipping container. To protect it, the custom shipping container was environmentally controlled. On September 24, the telescope was moved by the police escort for 26 miles through the streets of Los Angeles.
The new space telescope was packed like origami and will unfold its arms once in orbit. ESA calls the James Webb telescope “the next great space science observatory.” It was earlier scheduled to go into orbit in 2020; however, after the pandemic, the launch date had to be changed several times. The telescope will help scientists unfurl the mysteries of the cosmos and broaden our understanding of outer space.
