Launch of the James Webb Space Telescope

In News 

• Recently, NASA has announced the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)
• It will succeed NASA’s flagship Hubble Space Telescope that has been in service for more than three decades now.

About James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)

• It will be a large infrared telescope with an approximately 6.5-meter primary mirror.  
• The telescope will be launched on an Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana in 2021.
• It was formerly known as the Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST) but was renamed in 2002 after a former NASA administrator, James Webb.
  • Under his tenure, NASA launched over 75 space science missions, including probes that were sent to Mars and Venus.
• Main Features:
  • These include a primary mirror made of 18 separate segments that unfold and adjust to shape after launch. 
    • The mirrors are made of ultra-lightweight beryllium. 
  • Webb’s biggest feature is a tennis court-sized five-layer sunshield that attenuates heat from the Sun more than a million times.
  • It has a cryocooler for cooling the mid-infrared detectors of other instruments. 
• Wavelength: Webb’s four instruments to capture images and spectra of astronomical objects will provide wavelength coverage from 0.6 to 28 microns (the infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum is from about 0.75 microns to a few hundred microns)
• Size: Webb’s primary mirror is approximately 6.5 metres in diameter, giving it a significantly larger collecting area than the mirrors of the current generation of space telescopes. 
• Orbit: Hubble orbits the Earth at an altitude of ~570 km. Webb will not orbit the Earth, instead, it will sit at the Earth-Sun L2 Lagrange point, 1.5 million km away.
• Purpose: 
  • It will study every phase in the history of the Universe, ranging from the first luminous glows after the Big Bang, to the formation of solar systems capable of supporting life on planets like Earth, to the evolution of the Solar System.

• Partners:
  • It is an international collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).
  • The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is managing the development effort.

Source: IE