NASA Provides Health Update on the James Webb Space Telescope

NASA has delivered good news on the health of the James Webb Space Telescope after a recent incident that could have caused a serious delay in its release schedule.

The most powerful space telescope ever built suffered a scare earlier this month when a tether, used to secure Webb to the launch vehicle adapter, suddenly came loose as the spacecraft was attached to the upper stage of the Ariane 5 rocket in the launch site in French Guiana.

The unexpected event caused a vibration to pass through the observatory that engineers feared could have damaged some of its components.

After extensive checks, NASA reported Wednesday that the observatory and spacecraft are in good shape, allowing it to stick with the most recently announced launch date of December 22.

“An anomaly review board led by NASA concluded that no components of the observatory were damaged in the incident.” the space agency said in a post on your website. “A ‘consent to fuel’ review was conducted and NASA gave its approval to begin fueling the observatory. The refueling operations will begin on Thursday, November 25, and will take about 10 days ”.

The James Webb Space Telescope is the result of an international collaboration between NASA and the European and Canadian space agencies.

Once deployed, it will devote itself to exploring deep space in hopes of learn 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.

The telescope is the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, which has been exploring the universe since 1990 and broadcasting some amazing images.

There are a number of key differences between the two observatories. According to NASA: “Webb will mainly observe the universe in the infrared, while Hubble will study it mainly in optical and ultraviolet wavelengths (although it has some infrared capability). Webb also has a mirror much larger than Hubble. This larger light-gathering area means that Webb can look further back in time than Hubble is capable of. Hubble is in a very close orbit around Earth, while Webb will be 1.5 million kilometers away. “

The video below offers a size comparison of the Webb and Hubble mirrors. Also look at the huge parasol located under Webb’s mirror, which is said to be the size of a tennis court.

The Webb Observatory in its open state is too big to fit in the nose cone of a rocket. The solution was to build a collapsible design that will unfold once it’s in space.

Given that NASA has delivered good news about the James Webb Space Telescope, we can now expect the launch to occur in a few weeks from now. Check back closer to time for all the details on how to watch a live broadcast of takeoff.

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