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World's most powerful telescope blasts off into space

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Pierre Celerier, Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="The James Webb Space Telescope Mirror is seen during a media unveiling at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center at Greenbelt, Maryland November 2, 2016. Kevin Lamarque, Reuters/File Photo" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2021/reuters/12/25/20211224-space-exploration-telescope.jpg"/><figcaption>The James Webb Space Telescope Mirror is seen during a media unveiling at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center at Greenbelt, Maryland November 2, 2016. <em>Kevin Lamarque, Reuters/File Photo</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>KOUROU, France - The world&#x27;s most powerful space telescope on Saturday blasted off into orbit, headed to an outpost 1.5 million kilometers (930,000 miles) from Earth, after several delays caused by technical hitches.</p><p>The James Webb Space Telescope, some three decades and billions of dollars in the making, left Earth enclosed in its Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou Space Centre in French Guiana.</p><p>It is expected to take a month to reach its remote destination.</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/12/25/21/nasas-space-telescope-set-for-blastoff-from-french-guiana">NASA&#x27;s next big space telescope set for blastoff from French Guiana</a></li></ul><p>It is expected to beam back new clues that will help scientists understand more about the origins of the Universe and Earth-like planets beyond our solar system.</p><p>Named after a former NASA director, Webb follows in the footsteps of the legendary Hubble -- but intends to show humans what the Universe looked like even closer to its birth nearly 14 billion years ago.</p><p>Speaking on social media, Webb project co-founder John Mather described the telescope&#x27;s unprecedented sensitivity.</p><p>&quot;#JWST can see the heat signature of a bumblebee at the distance of the Moon,&quot; he said.</p><p>All that power is needed to detect the weak glow emitted billions of years ago by the very first galaxies to exist and the first stars being formed.</p><div><strong>- &#x27;Exceptional measures&#x27; -</strong></div><p>The telescope is unequalled in size and complexity.</p><p>Its mirror measures 6.5 meteRs (21 feet) in diameter -- three times the size of the Hubble&#x27;s mirror -- and is made of 18 hexagonal sections.</p><p>It is so large that it had to be folded to fit into the rocket. </p><p>That manoeuvre was laser-guided with NASA imposing strict isolation measures to limit any contact with the telescope&#x27;s mirrors from particles or even human breath.</p><p>Once the rockets have carried Webb 120 kilometeRs, the protective nose of the craft, called a &quot;fairing&quot;, is shed to lighten the load.</p><p>To protect the delicate instrument from changes in pressure at that stage, rocket-builder Arianespace installed a custom decompression system.</p><p>&quot;Exceptional measures for an exceptional client,&quot; said a European Space Agency official in Kourou on Thursday. </p><p>Crew on the ground will know whether the first stage of the flight was successful about 27 minutes after launch.</p><p>Once it reaches its station, the challenge will be to fully deploy the mirror and a tennis-court-sized sun shield. </p><p>That intimidatingly complex process will take two weeks and must be flawless if Webb is to function correctly.</p><p>Its orbit will be much farther than Hubble, which has been 600 kilometers above the Earth since 1990.</p><p>The location of Webb&#x27;s orbit is called the Lagrange 2 point and was chosen in part because it will keep the Earth, the Sun and the Moon all on the same side of its sun shield.</p><p>Webb is expected to officially enter service in June.</p><div><strong>pcl/nrh/yad/spm</strong></div><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1650171" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>

The world's most powerful space telescope on Saturday blasted off into orbit, headed to an outpost 1.5 million kilometers from Earth.

World's most powerful telescope blasts off into space

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World's most powerful telescope blasts off into space

Pierre Celerier,

Agence France-Presse

Published Dec 26, 2021 12:02 AM PHT

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