• Live Radio
  • Videos
  • About
  • Contact
  • Despite Media
Ghana Election 2020
  • Home
  • Local News
  • Politics
  • Showbiz
  • Sports
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • VIDEOS
  • Media
    • Videos
    • Audio
    • Live Radio
    • Photos
  • Election 2020
Local News
 
 
 
Home News Technology 202112

NASA Launches Revolutionary Space Telescope To Give Glimpse Of Early Universe

28-Dec-2021
/ Technology, News
Email
Print
Comments 0
(0)
Comments
Share on Facebook Share on Twitter
 

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, built to give the world its first glimpse of the universe as it existed when the earliest galaxies formed, was launched by rocket early Saturday from the northeastern coast of South America, opening a new era of astronomy.

The revolutionary $9 billion infrared telescope, described by NASA as the premiere space-science observatory of the next decade, was carried aloft inside the cargo bay of an Ariane 5 rocket that blasted off at about 7:20 a.m. EST (1220 GMT) from the European Space Agency's (ESA) launch base in French Guiana.

The flawless Christmas Day launch, with a countdown conducted in French, was carried live on a joint NASA-ESA webcast. The liftoff capped a project decades in the making, coming to fruition after years of repeated delays and cost over-runs.

"From a tropical rain forest to the edge of time itself, James Webb begins a voyage back to the birth of the universe," a NASA commentator said as the two-stage launch vehicle, fitted with double solid-rocket boosters, roared off its launch pad into cloudy skies.

After a 27-minute, hypersonic ride into space, the 14,000-pound instrument was released from the upper stage of the French-built rocket about 865 miles above the Earth, and should gradually unfurl to nearly the size of a tennis court over the next 13 days as it sails onward on its own.

Live video captured by a camera mounted on the rocket's upper stage showed the Webb gliding gently away after it was jettisoned, drawing cheers and applause from jubilant flight engineers in the mission control center.

Flight controllers confirmed moments later, as the Webb's solar-energy array was deployed, that its power supply was working.

Coasting through space for two more weeks, the Webb telescope will reach its destination in solar orbit 1 million miles from Earth - about four times farther away than the moon. And Webb's special orbital path will keep it in constant alignment with the Earth as the planet and telescope circle the sun in tandem.

By comparison, Webb's 30-year-old predecessor, the Hubble Space Telescope, orbits the Earth from 340 miles away, passing in and out of the planet's shadow every 90 minutes.

Named after the man who oversaw NASA through most of its formative decade of the 1960s, Webb is about 100 times more sensitive than Hubble and is expected to transform scientists' understanding of the universe and our place in it.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, striking a spiritual tone as he addressed the launch webcast by video link, quoted the Bible and hailed the new telescope as a "time machine" that will "capture the light from the very beginning of the creation."

COSMOLOGICAL HISTORY LESSON

Webb mainly will view the cosmos in the infrared spectrum, allowing it to peer through clouds of gas and dust where stars are being born, while Hubble has operated primarily at optical and ultraviolet wavelengths.

The new telescope's primary mirror - consisting of 18 hexagonal segments of gold-coated beryllium metal - also has a much bigger light-collecting area, enabling it to observe objects at greater distances, thus farther back into time, than Hubble or any other telescope.

That, astronomers say, will bring into view a glimpse of the cosmos never previously seen - dating to just 100 million years after the Big Bang, the theoretical flashpoint that set in motion the expansion of the observable universe an estimated 13.8 billion years ago.

Hubble's view reached back to roughly 400 million years following the Big Bang, a period just after the very first galaxies - sprawling clusters of stars, gases and other interstellar matter - are believed to have taken shape.

While Hubble caught glimmers of "toddler" galaxies, Webb will reveal those objects in greater detail while also capturing even fainter, earlier "infant" galaxies, astrophysicist Eric Smith, NASA's Webb program scientist, told Reuters hours before the launch.

Aside from examining the formation of the earliest stars and galaxies, astronomers are eager to study super-massive black holes believed to occupy the centers of distant galaxies.

Webb's instruments also make it ideal to search for evidence of potentially life-supporting atmospheres around scores of newly documented exoplanets - celestial bodies orbiting distant stars - and to observe worlds much closer to home, such as Mars and Saturn's icy moon Titan.

The telescope is an international collaboration led by NASA in partnership with the European and Canadian space agencies. Northrop Grumman Corp (NOC.N)was the primary contractor. The Arianespace launch vehicle is part of the European contribution.

"The world gave us this telescope, and we handed it back to the world today," Gregory Robinson, Webb program director for NASA told reporters at a post-launch briefing.

Webb was developed at a cost of $8.8 billion, with operational expenses projected to bring its total price tag to about $9.66 billion, far higher than planned when NASA was previously aiming for a 2011 launch. read more

Astronomical operation of the telescope, to be managed from the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, is expected to begin in the summer of 2022, following about six months of alignment and calibration of Webb's mirrors and instruments.

It is then that NASA expects to release the initial batch of images captured by Webb. Webb is designed to last up to 10 years.

 



Source: REUTERS

 

 
 

 

Comments ( 0 ): Post Your Comments >>

Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.
Featured Video
Previous Post

TikTok Ousts Google To Become Favourite Online Destination

Next Post

What Do You Think? - VIDEO

 
 

More Stories

Navigating The Complex Landscape Of Data Protection And Cybersecurity
Vodafone Grow Western: Foundation’s STEM And Robotics Training Elevates Young Girls In The Western Region
CWG Ghana Launches 20th Anniversary Celebrations With A Focus On Positioning Africa For The Future
Tech Creator Emmanuel Obuobi Fianko Nominated For Pulse Influencer Awards 2023
Elon Musk Says He Will Charge People To Use X
iPhone Users Say Apple's iOS 17 Update Is Ruining Their Battery Life
Vodafone Ghana CEO Delivers Key Insights At KNUST's Digital GenderSmart Event
The Digitization Of Government Services Enhances Transparency And Accessibility - Ms Kate Addo
Iphone 15 Is Officially UNVEILED: Apple's New Smartphone Starts At $799 In Five New Colours
Next Post

What Do You Think? - VIDEO

  Local News

  • General News
  • Social
  • Health
  • Education
  • Religion
  • Technology
  • Crime & Justice
  • Travel/Tourism
  • Science/Environment


 
 

 

Other Technology Stories

  • Navigating The Complex Landscape Of Data Protection And Cybersecurity

  • Vodafone Grow Western: Foundation’s STEM And Robotics Training Elevates Young Girls In The Western Region

  • CWG Ghana Launches 20th Anniversary Celebrations With A Focus On Positioning Africa For The Future

  • Tech Creator Emmanuel Obuobi Fianko Nominated For Pulse Influencer Awards 2023

  • Elon Musk Says He Will Charge People To Use X

  • iPhone Users Say Apple's iOS 17 Update Is Ruining Their Battery Life

  • Vodafone Ghana CEO Delivers Key Insights At KNUST's Digital GenderSmart Event

  • The Digitization Of Government Services Enhances Transparency And Accessibility - Ms Kate Addo

  • Iphone 15 Is Officially UNVEILED: Apple's New Smartphone Starts At $799 In Five New Colours

  • TXT Ghana Rebrands To GWO Sevo Solutions Ghana Limited

 

 
 

Popular Videos

Peace Power Sports (25/09/2023)

#MeManNti with ADAKABRI FRIMPONG MANSO on NEAT 100.9 FM 25/09/23)

Akan News @ Midday On Peace 104.3 FM (23/09/2023)

Weekend Peace Power Sports Review (23/09/2023)

Akan News @ 6am On Peace 104.3 FM (24/09/2023)

Kokrokoo Live On Peace 104.3 FM (25/09/2023)

Peace FM Online and Despite Media

peacefmonline.com offers its reading audience with a comprehensive online source for up-to-the-minute news about politics, business, entertainment and other issues in Ghana

Follow us on social media:

Category

  • Home
  • Local News
  • Politics
  • Showbiz
  • Sports
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Trivia
  • Foreign
  • Audio
  • Photos
  • Videos
  • Elections
Decision Time
Ghana Election 2020 2016 Elections
Services
Live Radio Audio on Demand Ghana Elections Advertise with Us
Useful Links
Despite Media About Us Contact Us Feedback Form Terms and Conditions Privacy
Our Brands
Despite Media UTV Peace FM Okay FM Hello FM Neat FM Peacefmonline
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Contact
  • Privacy

© 2020 Peacefmonline.com - An online portal owned and managed by Despite Media

  • Home
  • Local News
  • Politics
  • Showbiz
  • Sports
  • Business
  • Articles
  • Trivia
  • Foreign
  • Live Radio
  • Photos
  • Videos
  • Audio
  • Election 2020

© 2020 Peacefmonline.com - An online portal owned and managed by Despite Media