NASA finally has some good news regarding the health of the James Webb Space Telescope after a recent incident that could have delayed the launch yet again. The most powerful space telescope ever built suffered a scare when a clamp band suddenly released as the spacecraft was being attached to the upper stage of the Ariane 5 rocket.
The event led to vibration to pass through the telescope that engineers feared could have damaged some of the components. After thorough tests, the space agency reported that both the telescope and spacecraft are in good shape, allowing it to stick to recently announced the December 22 launch date.
Exploring our solar system and beyond
“A NASA-led anomaly review board concluded no observatory components were damaged in the incident,” NASA said in a post. “A ‘consent to fuel’ review was held, and NASA gave the approval to begin fueling the observatory. Fueling operations will begin Thursday, November 25, and will take about 10 days.”
The James Webb Space Telescope is the result of an international collaboration between NASA, ESA, and the Canadian space agency. Once launched, the telescope will be exploring deep space and learning more about our solar system and beyond. “Webb will reveal new and unexpected discoveries, and help humanity understand the origins of the universe and our place in it,” NASA said.
New Successor To Hubble Space Telescope
The telescope will be joining the legendary Hubble Space Telescope that has been operational for the last three decades. The telescope has captured many striking images of the cosmos. However, there are several differences between the two telescopes.
As per NASA: “Webb will primarily look at the universe in the infrared, while Hubble studies it primarily at optical and ultraviolet wavelengths (though it has some infrared capability). Webb also has a much bigger mirror than Hubble. This larger light-collecting area means that Webb can peer farther back into time than Hubble is capable of doing. Hubble is in a very close orbit around the earth, while Webb will be 932,000 miles (1.5 million km) away.”
