The NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has successfully completed its
final tests and is being prepared for shipment to its launch site at
Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana.
Tests were carried out at Northrop Grumman's facilities in California, U.S.,
to ensure that the complex space science observatory will operate as
designed when in space. Shipment operations have now begun, including all
the necessary steps to prepare Webb for a safe journey through the Panama
Canal to its launch location in French Guiana, on the northeastern coast of
South America.
Once Webb arrives at Europe's Spaceport, launch processing teams will
prepare and configure the observatory for flight. This involves
post-shipment checkouts and carefully loading the spacecraft's propellant
tanks with fuel. Then, engineering teams will mate the observatory to its
launch vehicle, an Ariane 5 rocket provided by ESA and make a 'dress
rehearsal', before it rolls out to the launch pad two days before launch.
Overnight on 17 August 2021, the upper stage was transported in its
container from ArianeGroup in Bremen to Neustadt port in Germany. Here it
boarded the MN Toucan vessel alongside other Ariane 5 elements loaded in
various European harbors to continue its journey to Kourou, French Guiana.
The upper stage of the Ariane 5 rocket which will launch the James Webb
Space Telescope is on its way to Europe's Spaceport
The James Webb Space Telescope is an amazing feat of human ingenuity—a
mission with contributions from thousands of scientists, engineers, and
other professionals from more than 14 countries and 29 states, in nine
different time zones. Working with partners, ESA was responsible for the
development and qualification of Ariane 5 adaptations for the Webb mission
and for the procurement of the launch service. Besides that, ESA is
contributing the NIRSpec instrument and a 50% share of the MIRI instrument,
as well as personnel to support mission operations.
"We are glad about the completion of all tests for Webb and thank all the
teams for their excellent work. We are really excited that all the items
necessary for the launch are now coming together at Europe's Spaceport,"
said Günther Hasinger, ESA Director of Science.
After launch, Webb will undergo an action-packed six-month commissioning
period. Moments after completing a 26-minute ride aboard the Ariane 5 launch
vehicle, the spacecraft will separate from the rocket and its solar array
will deploy automatically.
Immediately after Webb separates from the rocket, ESA's tracking station
network, ESTRACK, will follow the Early Orbit Phase operations using its
Malindi ground station in collaboration with NASA's station network.
Webb will take one month to fly to its intended orbital location in space
nearly one million miles away from Earth, slowly unfolding as it goes.
Sunshield deployments will begin a few days after launch, and each step can
be controlled expertly from the ground, giving Webb's launch full control to
circumnavigate any unforeseen issues with deployment.
Once the sunshield starts to deploy, the telescope and instruments will
enter shade and start to cool over time. Over the ensuing weeks, the mission
team will closely monitor the observatory's cooldown, managing it with
heaters to control stresses on instruments and structures. In the meantime,
the secondary mirror tripod will unfold, the primary mirror will unfold,
Webb's instruments will slowly power up, and thruster firings will insert
the observatory into a prescribed orbit.
Once the observatory has cooled down and stabilized at its frigid operating
temperature, several months of alignments to its optics and calibrations of
its scientific instruments will occur. Scientific operations are expected to
commence approximately six months after launch.
'Flagship' missions like Webb are generational projects. Webb was built on
both the legacy and the lessons of missions before it, such as the NASA/ESA
Hubble Space Telescope, and it will in turn provide the foundation upon
which future large astronomical space observatories may one day be
developed.
Webb is the next great space science observatory, designed to answer
outstanding questions about the Universe and to make breakthrough
discoveries in all fields of astronomy. Webb will see farther into our
origins—from the formation of stars and planets, to the birth of the first
galaxies in the early Universe.
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