After decades of planning, cost explosions, and many delays, the largest and most powerful telescope in space history to date is set to blast off into space on Saturday (1:20 p.m. German time). The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) – a nearly $10 billion collaboration between space agencies in the US, Canada and Europe – will be launched aboard an Ariane launcher from Kourou spaceport in French Guiana.
SN / APA / NASA / CHRIS GUNN
Rocket with Webb Telescope on launch pad
It should take JWST about four weeks to reach the target orbit 1.5 million kilometers away. The first data and images from the telescope are not expected until summer at the earliest.
JWST will be the successor to the “Hubble” telescope, which has been in use for more than 30 years. Among other things, it is supposed to provide images from the early universe with the help of a mirror of 25 square meters. Scientists hope this will provide new insights into how our universe came to be. James Webb is ten years old.
Accessed December 25, 2021 at 3:41 am at https://www.sn.at/panorama/international/james-webb-teleskop-soll-in-den-weltraum-starten-114510712