“James Webb”: The most expensive space telescope successfully goes into space

“James Webb Space Telescope”
The most expensive space telescope successfully launched after decades of planning

The most expensive space telescope ever built in space history was successfully launched into space on Saturday after decades of planning. The James Web Space Telescope (JWST), co-built by astronauts in Europe, the United States and Canada, aims to explore the oldest galaxies in space, from the European space station Kourou in Ariane, French Guiana. Launched.The journey to the target orbit at a distance of about 1.5 million kilometers takes four weeks.

Scientists believe the images from the James Webb telescope will provide information about the early period after the Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago. The direct environment of the Earth in our solar system is also to be studied. Web logs, for example, should show if there are habitable planets with water resources.

The James Webb telescope is worth about $ 10 billion

The first data and images from the telescope are not expected until the summer. At the start of the mission, NASA identified 344 critical points that threatened the planned use of the telescope.

“This rocket contains the hopes and dreams of tens of thousands of scientists who will benefit from the discoveries of this mission,” said NASA science director Thomas Zurbuchen just minutes before launch. “We never saw the universe the way the web shows us.”

According to the operator, the James Webb telescope was built about 30 years ago and cost about $ 10 billion (8. 8.8 billion). This is many times more than the capabilities of the well-known Hubble telescope. The “web” should provide images from the early universe with the help of 25 square meters of glass. The mission is set for ten years.

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The beginning of the telescope with problems

The previous way of telescoping was with problems. “Nature” business magazine wrote about “the most expensive astronomical hazard in history”. The idea for such a telescope first appeared in the late 1980s, and planning and construction have been going on ever since. There were repeated minor accidents, planning delays, and initially estimated costs rising to about $ 500 million. JWST was originally scheduled to launch in 2007 – but the launch was always postponed.

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DPA