JAKARTA – The James Webb Space Telescope has begun refueling ahead of its long-awaited launch on December 22.
The $10 billion telescope, jointly developed by NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency, is finally ‘ready to fly’ after 25 years of manufacture.
According to NASA, as reported Dailymail.com, The refueling operation begins on November 25, and will take approximately 10 days, lasting until December 5.
Experts have cleared the telescope of any possible damage following an incident at its spaceport in French Guiana last week.
When he finally blasts off into space from the Guyana Space Center, James Webb will study the history of exoplanets and the origin of the universe’s first stars.
James Webb will launch on December 22 on an Arianespace Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou, a city in French Guiana, South America, which is home to the Guiana Space Center.
The telescope was previously scheduled for launch on December 18, but a ‘recent incident’ during preparations forced the launch to be pushed back four days. Many other delaying factors have interfered with the telescope’s construction and testing history.
“A team of engineers has completed additional testing that confirms NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is ready to fly,” NASA said in an update. Dailymail.com.
Engineering teams have determined @NASAWebb is safe and ready for fueling after having completed a series of safety checks and tests. Preparations continue toward a target launch date of Dec. 22: https://t.co/xGCzOq1pby pic.twitter.com/sdBaSFxqbJ
– NASA (@NASA) November 25, 2021
“Launch preparations continue towards Webb’s target launch date of Wednesday, December 22, at 7:20 a.m. EST [19.20 WIB].’
On November 22, engineers were preparing to attach the space telescope to the launch vehicle adapter, which is used to attach it to the top of the Ariane 5 rocket, when the clamping band suddenly loosened, jolting the observatory.
According to NASA, the incident occurred while operations were underway under the “overall responsibility” of Arianespace, the French satellite launch company that blasted the telescope into orbit from French Guiana.
Additional testing was carried out last week to “ensure the health of the observatory” after the incident, NASA said.
On November 24, the engineering team completed these tests, and the NASA-led anomaly review board concluded that no observatory components were damaged in the incident.
A review of ‘approval for fuel’ was held, and NASA gave approval to begin refueling the observatory.
Built Since 1996
The James Webb Space Telescope began development in 1996 and was originally planned for launch in 2007 to replace Hubble, which is still operational.
Test work was already delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, by which time the estimated total cost of developing the telescope had risen to more than $10 billion.
When it finally launches, James Webb will explore every phase of cosmic history – from within our solar system to the most distant observable galaxy in the early universe, ‘and everything in between’.
This telescope must reveal new and unexpected discoveries, and help humanity understand the origin of the universe and our place in it.
One goal is to look back in time for 13.5 billion years to see the first stars and galaxies to form, several hundred million years after the Big Bang, using infrared light.
Generally, by the time light from the first object reaches a more basic telescope, it has shifted to the red end of the electromagnetic spectrum as a result of the expansion of the universe.
But when it finally launches, James Webb will provide better infrared resolution and sensitivity than Hubble.
On December 22, about 28 minutes after launch, James Webb will detach from his launch vehicle and begin “the most complex deployment sequence ever attempted on a single space mission,” NASA said.
The telescope is so large that it would fold, origami-style, to fit a rocket, according to NASA, and stretch out ‘like a Transformer’ in space.
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