United States Institute of Aeronautics and Space Telescope (NASA), James Webb, has reached its final destination orbit on Monday (24/1). Now its existence is more than 1.5 million kilometers from Earth.
James Webb is the most powerful observatory ever launched into space. The telescope takes off on December 25, 2021, to explore the cosmos and observe other objects beyond Earth.
Since its successful takeoff, the $10 billion telescope has been busy deploying its various systems and structures and traveling to its new home called the Langrange 2 orbit.
James Webb was at the orbital point of Langrange 2 or L2 on January 24. This orbital position is considered perfect to balance the attraction between the gravity of the Earth and the Sun. In this orbit James Webb could float safely.
From that position, Webb will be in charge of photographing and recording space phenomena. The orbit is said to be an ideal location for observing the solar system and looking for signs of life beyond Earth.
“Web, welcome home!” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a blog post, quoted Space.
Webb has spent about 30 days flying into orbit and opening the mirror to a vital part of the telescope. On Thursday (19/1), for example, the telescope scattered 18 hexagonal segments formed from large mirrors.
NASA engineers completed the opening of the telescope, which includes a large 6.5 meter (21 ft) gold-plated mirror and a windshield the size of a tennis court.
The process required a series of extremely delicate and complex maneuvers, a choreography that no other spacecraft had ever performed in the history of astronomy
Once near L2, Webb initiates mid-course correction burn (MCC2), which is a maneuver to eject a small booster rocket into L2 orbit.
James Webb will spend his life at L2. It was previously thought that the observatory could operate for only 5 to 10 years in space.
After launch, however, the team carrying out the mission expected that Webb would be ‘significantly over 10 years of life’.
Quoted from The Guardian, James Webb had designed it as a replacement for the Hubble Space Telescope, which was still operational after its launch in 1990.
Unlike the Hubble telescope, Webb will not study the visible aspects of the electromagnetic spectrum. Instead, it will only study infrared radiation.
(can/fea)
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