The Ariane 5 rocket is ready on the launch pad of the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana. At its peak of fifty meters lies the work of thousands of people, the result of twenty-five years of hard work and trouble, an investment of nine billion dollars. Tomorrow, December 25, shortly after noon of our time, we will know if the start was successful.
The nervousness of scientists will not end there, they will suffer for a long time. Web telescope (James Webb Space Telescope, JWST) will have many more opportunities to fail before it starts working. Everyone firmly hopes that this will not happen, but the complexity of the project is such that there is no room left for the slightest mistake – each would be fatal.
The development of the telescope – in fact, several measuring and observing instruments together, but this collective name is used for them – has lasted since 1996. The original cost estimate was half a billion dollars and was scheduled to start in 2007. fourteen years, the costs have increased twentyfold, including the future ones needed to run the mission. It is not just an underestimation, the reason is that its parameters have changed several times during the development of the telescope; that unexpected funding problems have arisen (especially after 11 September 2001); that the cooperation between NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency, the three operators, has not always been ideal, as has the coordination of many commercial suppliers; whereas many errors have been identified during development and production which have required repeated revisions; in short, that it is a project on the edge of contemporary possibilities.
James E. Webb (1906–1992) was director of NASA from 1961–1968, the heyday of the US space program.
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If all goes according to plan, Ariane 5 will take off with her precious cargo tomorrow, December 25, at 13.20 Central European Time. Interested parties can watch live broadcast on the NASA website.
| Two generations of space telescopes | Hubble | Webb |
| distance from Earth | 550 km | 1.5 million km |
| mirror diameter | 2,4 m | 6,5 m |
| field of observation | ultraviolet, visible light, infrared | infra-red |
| total acquisition costs | 4,4 mld. USD | 8,9 mld. USD |
| total operating costs | 6,9 mld. USD | $ 0.8 billion (estimated) |
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Scientists will rest for the first time when the rocket successfully leaves Earth. For the second time
