The successor to the famous Hubble space telescope is launched today: the James Webb. With the new telescope, scientists want to get an even better picture of the universe over the next ten years. The telescope will look for traces of the Big Bang and planets where extraterrestrial life is possible.
The launch will take place in French Guiana, at the European space base Kourou. At 13:20 (Dutch time) the rocket containing the James Webb has to take off. He then goes to his new workplace, 1.5 million kilometers away from Earth. He should be there in about a month.
The James Webb was built by the space agencies of Europe (ESA), the United States (NASA), and Canada (CSA). Leiden University, research institute TNO and scientific bureau NOVA-OIR are involved in the space telescope from the Netherlands.
The James Webb has been worked on for a long time. Development started in 1996 and it was initially planned to be launched as early as 2007. However, the departure has been postponed several times due to technical problems. The corona pandemic also caused delays. The project will cost a total of approximately 8 billion euros.
The James Webb is about the size of a tennis court. The core is a 6.5-meter mirror of gold and beryllium. It catches the light from space. It can see a billion years further back in time than Hubble.
Search for planets where life is possible
The new space telescope must search for planets that may be home to life, distant galaxies and traces of the Big Bang. Because the James Webb is so far away, it is not bothered by the heat of the earth. At his workplace, the temperature is 233 degrees below zero. This makes the measurements more accurate and reliable.
Launched in April 1990, Hubble has been orbiting the Earth for more than 31 years at an altitude of more than 500 kilometers. He studied distant galaxies, among other things, which has given scientists a better picture of the origin of the universe. He also made well-known photographs of distant nebulae. The Hubble received its last service in 2009. The instruments on board have been malfunctioning lately and it is not known how long they will last. Sometime in the next ten years, Hubble could fall out of orbit. When that happens, it burns up in the atmosphere.
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