The Power and Functions of the Newly Launched James Webb Telescope

INDONEWTRAVEL.COM - The James Webb space telescope belonging to the United States Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA was successfully launched on Saturday (26/12) US time.

James Webb successfully lifts off aboard an Ariane 5 rocket, from the European Spaceport in French Guiana at 07:20 ET.

"At 07:20 ET (12:20 UTC), the start of an exciting new decade of science took to the skies. Webb's mission to #UnfoldTheUniverse will change our understanding of space as we know it," NASA said on Twitter.

The Webb telescope has had launch delays for years. Factors causing delays include the pandemic and technical challenges.

But the world's most powerful and complex space observatory, will answer questions about our solar system, and study exoplanets in new ways.

The European Space Agency called it a "great Christmas gift" for the international space team, as well as all space scientists.

NASA administrator Bill Nelson expressed his gratitude to the international team that made the Christmas Day launch mission possible.

"This is an extraordinary day for planet Earth. Thanks to the team. You are all amazing. For three decades, you produced the telescope that will now take us back to the beginning of the universe. We're going to discover amazing things we never imagined," Nelson said shortly after the launch.

James Webb Telescope Functions

Webb serves as a monitor for the atmospheres of exoplanets or exoplanets, some of which are potentially habitable, and can uncover clues in the ongoing search for extraterrestrial life.

The telescope is equipped with a mirror that can extend 6.5 meters which allows the mirror to collect more light from the object it is observing, once the telescope is in space.

The more light the mirror can collect, the more detail the telescope can observe. The mirror includes 18 hexagonal gold plated segments, each 1.32 meters in diameter. NASA calls the mirror the largest mirror NASA has ever made.

The mirror was so big that it couldn't fit inside the rocket. So the NASA team designed the telescope as a series of moving parts that fold in origami style, and fit into a 5-meter-wide chamber.

Scientific Mission

Webb will serve as an infrared detective, detecting light invisible to humans and revealing hidden regions of space.

Since 2004, thousands of scientists, technicians and engineers from 14 countries have spent 40 million hours building the telescope. The telescope includes instruments from the Canadian Space Agency and the European Space Agency.

Webb is ready to help us understand the origin of the universe and begin to answer key questions about our existence, such as where we came from and whether we are alone in the universe.

Its capabilities will allow the observatory to answer questions about our own solar system, and investigate faint signals from the first galaxies that formed 13.5 billion years ago.

Quoted by INDONEWTRAVEL.COM, the observatory consists of three main elements. One of these is the Integrated Science Instruments Module, which contains a suite of four Webb instruments.

The instrument will be used for image capture or spectroscopy, which breaks light into different wavelengths to determine its physical and chemical components.

The observatory's main eye, called the Optical Telescope Element, includes the mirror and the back plane, or spine, that supports the mirror. Then there's the Spaceship Element, which includes a spaceship bus and a Sun visor.