Most expensive space telescope successfully launched into space

Created: 12/25/2021Updated: 12/25/2021, 1:34 PM

Arianespace's Ariane 5 rocket with NASA's James Webb Space Telescope on board.

© Jody Amiet / AFP / dpa

The "James Webb Space Telescope" was developed for around 30 years.

Now it is on the way to the target orbit - and a whole generation of researchers is hoping for findings.

Kourou - After decades of planning, the most expensive space telescope ever built in space history was successfully launched into space on Saturday.

The “James Webb Space Telescope” (JWST), built jointly by space agencies in Europe, the USA and Canada, is intended to explore the oldest galaxies in space.

It took off from the European space station Kourou in French Guiana and is on board an Ariane launcher.

The journey to the target orbit, which is around 1.5 million kilometers away, takes around four weeks.

Scientists hope that the images from the James Webb telescope will provide information about the early period after the Big Bang, around 13.8 billion years ago, among other things.

The direct environment of the earth in our solar system is also to be examined.

Webb recordings should show, for example, whether there are habitable planets with water resources.

The first data and images from the telescope are not expected until summer at the earliest.

At the start of the mission, NASA had identified 344 critical points that threatened the planned use of the telescope.

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"On board this rocket are the hopes and dreams of tens of thousands of scientists who will benefit from the findings of this mission," said NASA Science Director Thomas Zurbuchen a few minutes before the start.

"We have never seen the universe the way Webb will show us."

Mission scheduled for ten years

According to the operator, the James Webb telescope was developed for around 30 years and cost around 10 billion dollars (8.8 billion euros). It exceeds the capabilities of the well-known Hubble telescope many times over. Among other things, “Webb” is supposed to deliver images from the early universe with the help of a 25 square meter mirror. The mission is set for ten years.

The previous way of the telescope was accompanied by problems.

The trade magazine "Nature" had written about the "most expensive astronomical risk in history".

The idea of ​​such a telescope first came up at the end of the 1980s, and planning and construction has been going on ever since.

Again and again minor mishaps happened, planning was delayed, the costs originally estimated at around 500 million dollars soared.

The JWST was originally supposed to start in 2007 - but the start was always postponed.

dpa