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The James Webb Space Telescope will study the formation of the first stars, peer through cosmic dust and search for signs of life on other planets
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Its takeoff has been postponed to December 25, although the final date will depend on the weather
The image we have of the universe around us could be about to change. The ‘James Webb’ Space Telescope, the largest and most powerful instrument ever built, is about to start its space odyssey to study the light of the first stars, investigate what lies beyond the cosmic dust clouds and search for signs of life on other planets. After more than three decades of research and 10,000 million dollars invested, the launch of this historic mission has been postponed, again, to “not before December 25”. If the weather conditions are good, then, ‘Webb’ will take off just before Christmas morning. Or for Newton’s day, depending on how you look at it.
The expectations for this mission are high. And not just because this telescope has been specifically designed to go further than the already famous ‘Hubble’, whose observations have revealed everything from the existence of black holes to spectacular images of the galaxies that surround us. The launch of ‘Webb’ will mean the deployment of the largest and most sophisticated space telescope ever built for humanity. The instrument will have a mirror of 6.5 meters in diameter, divided in turn by 18 individual gold-coated mirrors. This represents a deployment almost three times larger than the missions launched to date and up to 100 times more sensitive than what we had until now. “This telescope will show us the universe as we have never seen it before,” explains astrophysicist Begoña Vila in an interview with EL PERIÓDICO.
And it is that ‘Webb’, unlike its predecessors, has been designed to look at the universe through infrared radiation. That is, to see beyond what the human eye would capture. From what we would see with the naked eye. “This will also allow us look back in time in search of the light of the first stars and galaxies of the universe,” explains Macarena García Marín, a scientist on the mission’s operations team. “We are in an expanding universe where the light from the first stars reaches us as weak infrared radiation. Looking for these signs is, in a way, like having a time machine to understand what happened during the early stages of the universe”, illustrates the expert.
A spatial choreography
The launch of the ‘James Webb’ space telescope, defined as “the most important mission of this generation”, is the result of a collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). The project started in the eighties, just after the launch of ‘Hubble’, with a initial budget of 500 million dollars and a launch forecast for the year 2007. The design of this mission has survived countless technical contingencies, redesigns and controversies that, finally, have multiplied the budget by twenty and have delayed its takeoff almost fifteen years.
It is expected that, after overcoming his earthly odyssey, the telescope sets course for space aboard the European rocket Ariane 5, which will take off from the Kurú spaceport in French Guiana. The instrument will leave its mother planet carefully folded, like an origami, and stored inside the space vehicle specifically designed for this purpose. ‘Webb’ will be ‘released’ into space when the rocket reaches about 120 kilometers in height. Thereafter, the telescope will start “six months of complex and meticulous choreography tested for years for the deployment of this instrument”, says García Marín.
The deployment of this sophisticated space telescope has been planned down to the smallest detail. According to mission engineers, in the first month of the mission, a large part of the technical deployments will be carried out. ‘Webb’ will begin to open its visors between days 3 and 4 of its space trip, just during its passage on the Moon. Then, in the next few weeks, you’ll begin to unfold and align your mirrors. The first ‘official’ photo of the mission three or four weeks is expected. Afterwards, it is estimated that it will take three more months to calibrate the scientific instruments on board. “The first observations will be a technical sample of everything this telescope can do”, explains Vila.
In search of extraterrestrial life
‘Webb’ will orbit at a distance of 1.5 million kilometers from its parent planet. That is, about four times the distance between the Moon and the Earth. From this strategic location, the telescope will be able to observe unexplored corners of the cosmos. Of course, in the event of a breakdown, the location of this instrument will also be your sentence. “Hubble was designed so that, if necessary, it could be repaired by astronauts. But ‘Webb’ was not. In the position where it will be, there would be no way to fix it,” says García Marín. That yes, nuances the scientist, “systems have redundancies. If side A does not work, it goes to B”.
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The Lifespan of this mission is about 10 years. During this time, the telescope will carry out an exhaustive list of tasks scheduled, down to the smallest detail, by scientists from around the world. In his first year of flight, ‘Webb’ will spend about 25% of his time observing exoplanets. In total, it is estimated that between 60 and 70 of these celestial bodies will be studied. “‘Webb’ will be the first to look directly at these potential worlds to see how many meet the conditions to host life as we know it“, explains Vila. If there is life beyond Earth, well, this telescope will be the best tool that humanity has right now to find it.