NASA postpones James Webb space telescope launch until December 18
NASA plans to launch the James Webb Space Telescope on December 18. The telescope is scheduled to be launched on that date with an Ariane 5 rocket, which will be provided by the ESA. The launch has been postponed several times in recent years.
The target date of December 18, 2021 is confirmed by NASA and ESA. The space agencies have chosen this date in collaboration with Arianespace, the maker of the Ariane 5 rocket that will be used to launch the space telescope from French Guiana. At the end of August, NASA announced that James Webb had passed his final tests and that the space telescope was being prepared for transport to the launch site. The telescope should arrive in French Guiana at the end of September.
The launch of the James Webb rocket has been delayed several times in recent years. Work on James Webb began in 1996 and the space telescope was initially expected to be launched in 2007. However, in 2005 the telescope was redesigned and construction was finally completed in 2016, after which a major test phase began.
The launch was then estimated to be March 2020, but this was not possible due to the corona pandemic. The launch date was subsequently postponed to October 31, 2021, but this will be postponed again by six weeks. However, all tests with the James Webb telescope have now been completed and the Ariane 5 rocket was successfully launched on July 30 after previous problems with the payload fairing.
“We now know the day that thousands of people have been working towards for years and that millions of people around the world are looking forward to,” Günther Hasinger, ESA’s director of science, wrote in a statement. “Webb and the Ariane 5 launch vehicle are ready, thanks to the excellent work of all mission partners. We look forward to final preparations for the launch on Europe’s spaceport.”
The James Webb telescope will be placed 1.5 million kilometers from Earth near the second Lagrange point, or L2. The space telescope will revolve around the sun there. The James Webb telescope focuses on the infrared part of the light spectrum and with it the telescope will detect light from the first generation of galaxies, which formed shortly after the Big Bang. In addition, James Webb will also play an important role in studying the composition of atmospheres of discovered exoplanets.
The activities of the James Webb telescope. Image via ESA