[ad_1]
The world’s largest and most powerful space telescope rocketed on Saturday in a high-stakes quest to see light from the first stars and galaxies and find clues to life across the universe.
NASAThe James Webb Space Telescope rose from French Guiana off the northeast coast of South America on a European Ariane rocket. Christmas morning sky.
“What a marvelous Christmas available,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, NASAchief of science mission.
The $10 billion observatory blasted off 1 million miles (1.6 million kilometers) from its target, or more than four times the moon. It will take one month to get there and another five months before his infrared eyes are ready to begin scanning the cosmos.
First, the telescope’s huge mirror and sun shield need to be turned on; they were folded in origami style to fit in the nose cone of the rocket. Otherwise, the observatory would not be able to go back 13.7 billion years, as expected, within just 100 million years of the Big Bang that formed the universe.
NASA Manager Bill Nelson called webb “A time machine that will enable us to better understand our universe and our place in it: who we are, what we are, our eternal search”.
“We’re going to discover incredible things we never imagined,” Nelson said after takeoff from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. But he warned: “There are still countless things that need to work and that need to work perfectly… We know that in the grand prize there is great risk.”
Designed as the successor to the aging Hubble Space Telescope, the long-delay James Webb It is named after NASAManager in the 1960s. NASA It has partnered with European and Canadian space agencies to build and launch the new 7-tonne telescope, which has been working on thousands of people from 29 countries since the 1990s.
As the throw falls Christmas and a global increase in COVID-19 cases, there were fewer spectators than expected at the French Guiana launch site. Nelson bowed with a congressional delegation and several other contractors working on the telescope.
Astronomers and countless others from around the world can’t wait to see it. webb finally takes flight after years of mishaps. Last-minute technical hurdles took about a week to launch, followed by strong winds. Christmas. A few of the launch controllers wore Santa hats in celebration.
“We delivered Christmas “A gift to humanity today,” said Josef Aschbacher, director general of the European Space Agency. He described it as a special moment, but added: “It’s so frustrating. I couldn’t launch every day. That wouldn’t be good for my life expectancy.”
Applause and applause arose inside and outside of Launch Control webbThe perfect launch, with elated scientists hugging each other amid cries of “Go”. webb!” and signs that read “Bon Voyage Webb.”
Cameras on the rocket’s upper stage gave the glowing telescope one last look at the Earth’s background before it sped away. “This picture will stay in my mind forever,” Zurbuchen told reporters.
The flamboyant piece of the telescope: a gold-plated mirror over 21 feet by 6.5 meters.
Protecting the observatory is a thin, five-layer sunshade that is vital to keeping the light-gathering mirror and heat-sensitive infrared detectors in sub-zero temperatures. 70 feet by 46 feet (21 meters by 14 meters), the size of a tennis court.
If all goes well, the sunshade will open three days after takeoff, taking at least five days to open and snap into place. The mirror segments should then unfold like the leaves of a leafy tabletop, 12 days or more into flight.
In total, hundreds of release mechanisms must work perfectly for the telescope to be successful. Such a complex series of actions is unprecedented – “unlike anything we’ve done before” NASA program director Greg Robinson.
“It’s our job now to start here and continue,” said astronomer Massimo Stiavelli. webb Mission office at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. The Institute serves as the control center for Hubble and now, webb.
According to Stiavelli and retired astronaut-astronomer Steven Hawley, the Hubble Space Telescope will be a difficult act to follow. webb It is 100 times stronger.
Hawley, in fact, is more stressed out. webb not including he It was for Hubble, which he launched into orbit from the space shuttle Discovery in 1990. webb It will be too far to recover, as is necessary when Hubble turns out to have blurred vision through a defective mirror.
Spacewalk repairs by astronauts turned Hubble into a beloved marvel that revolutionized humanity’s understanding of the universe and took their eyes back to 13.4 billion years ago. left now webb To get even closer to the Big Bang, 13.8 billion years ago, its infrared vision is sharper and wider than Hubble’s, at shorter visible and ultraviolet wavelengths.
NASA Shooting for 10 years operational life webb. Engineers visited the spacecraft if and whenever such technology became available, deliberately leaving the fuel tank accessible for refueling.
“Hubble is like a perfect story. It starts badly, then the cavalry straightens up, then it’s a great success. almost a Christmas somehow the movie,” said Stiavelli webbdeparture. “A high bar, but I hope their contribution to science webb it will be there.”
___
The Associated Press Department of Health and Science receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. Only AP is responsible for all content.
[ad_2]
Source link