The wait is finally over now! The awaited NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has just launched for its mission. For those, who don’t know what the James Webb telescope is, it is a space telescope developed by NASA, the Canadian Space Agency and the European Space Agency. It is the next flagship mission by NASA after the great Hubble telescope.
The James Webb Telescope is the biggest every telescope scheduled to go into space. It is a massive 10 Billion dollar project which will be launched. It has been launched by French Guiana in the European Ariane rocket.
Deemed to be one of the most significant scientific missions of the 21st century, the telescope took nearly 30 years of research and design strategies.
The primary goal of James Webb will be to show the first stars and galaxies that shone in the Universe. It also has the great ability to look into the atmospheres of very distant planets and find out the possibilities of life on them.
But now the question is, How long will the James Webb Telescope take to unfold? So, let’s take a look at the topic in more detail.
Launch of the JWST
After decades of hard work and research bundled with numerous delays, the James Webb Telescope was scheduled to launch on December 25th at 7.20 a.m. eastern time. Everything regarding this mission depended on the launch. A successful launch accompanied by a safe rocket ride and plans going as expected is the recipe to the success of this mission.
The next few weeks after the launch are going to be very crucial as they would be the make or break for this mission. The scientific observations by the telescope would take nearly six months to begin. Before that the timeline for the telescope would be as follows:
- Launch to month 1 – Unfolding and turning on the instruments in the telescope
- Month 2 to month 4 – Aligning the optics and testing the instruments
- Month 5 – month 6 – Calibration
Along its way, there have been several delays. Some have been man-made while some have been technical. When these two parameters got together, the weather looked to threaten the launch.
Read: NASA’s dream project: James Webb Space Telescope Launched Successfully
What after the launch of the James Webb space telescope?
After the launch, the high gain antenna is supposed to be deployed for communication. Somewhere between 12 and 20 hours after launch, there will be correction manoeuvres for aligning it to the correct path.
The second one will be after 2.5 days after launch and the third one after 29 days for the final path.
The launch of the JWST is just one nail in the coffin, the real game starts after that as the telescope begins the tricky unfolding process.
Nearly half an hour after its launch, the JWST will unfurl from its rocket and will begin its unfolding process and try to reach its proper orbit.
As it reaches into space, till the next 29 days, there would be numerous points of failure for it. But astronomers believe, even if it fails, it won’t be the end of the world.
In its unfolding process, the telescope will unfold its solar arrays, the communication modules, followed by the sun shield and the honeycombed eye.
For astronomers, fitting all this in the rocket Ariane 5 was also a significant problem. If everything goes well in the unfolding stage, the JWST may unfurl in about 13 days and reach its orbit in a month.
Related: NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope Launch: Live Updates here
What is special about the JWST?
If everything goes and well during the launch and unfolding process, JWT could answer some of the biggest mysteries. It could possibly look into the birth of some of the initial galaxies and stars just after the Big Bang. It will throw light on how planets and stars took birth and will come up with images of some other exciting prospects of life.
Recent Updates regarding the NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope
17:52
December 25, The JWST has finally taken off.
17:54
The Strap 2 boosters of the rocket have detached. Everything going as planned.
18:00
The Ariane rocket has ignited its upper stage to propel the telescope to its orbit.
18:16
The stage engine of the rocket has shut down and everything going according to plans.
18:28
The telescope has successfully separated from its rocket and the unfolding of the solar array is done successfully.
18:43
The launch of JWST was deemed a success.
00:56
December 26, After 7 hours of launch, JWST is perfectly on its way to its destination: the Lagrange Point 2.
7:37
Successful vital burn executed by James Webb telescope for trajectory correction. The burn took 65 minutes and went along well.
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