Nasa’s James Webb telescope successfully launched into space

James Webb Space Telescope will peer 13.5 billion years back in time

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  The first full-color image from Nasa's James Webb Space Telescope shows the galaxy cluster SMACS 0723. Photo: Nasa

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  This image made available by Nasa on March 16, 2022 shows star 2MASS J17554042+6551277 used to align the mirrors of the James Webb Space Telescope, with galaxies and stars surrounding it. The hexagonal shape of Webb’s mirrors and its filters made the shimmering star look more red and spiky. The first science images aren't expected until July 12. Photo: Nasa

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  This photo provided by NASA shows a “selfie” created using a specialized pupil imaging lens inside of the NIRCam instrument that was designed to take images of the primary mirror segments instead of images of space. (NASA via AP)

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  Webb is able to look back in time 13 billion years, a mere 100 million years after the Big Bang. AP

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  The James Webb Space Telescope separates from Arianespace's Ariane 5 rocket. AFP

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  Arianespace's Ariane 5 rocket, with Nasa's James Webb Space Telescope on board, takes off from the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana, on December 25, 2021. Reuters

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  The James Webb Space Telescope will help answer fundamental questions about the universe, peering back in time 13 billion years. AFP

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  Three decades and billions of dollars in the making, the world's most powerful space telescope will take up its position 1.5 million kilometres from the Earth. AFP

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  Nasa's James Webb Space Telescope is carried by rocket from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana. AFP

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  This combination of images from an animation made available by Nasa shows the unfolding of the components of the James Webb Space Telescope. Webb is so big that it had to be folded origami-style to fit into the nose cone of the Ariane rocket. AP

With rainclouds overhead, Nasa’s newest next-generation space observatory, the James Webb Space telescope, launched on Saturday from South America.

The $10 billion instrument is two decades in the making and will help answer questions about our solar system and look deeper into the universe in an unprecedented way.

As the rocket carrying the telescope took off, Nasa spokesman Rob Navias said: “Lift-off, from a tropical rainforest to the edge of time itself, James Webb begins a voyage back to the birth of the universe.”

“Over 10,000 people have worked on this telescope. All the hopes and dreams of those individuals and tens of thousands of scientists will benefit from this data,” Thomas Zurbuchen, Nasa associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate, said ahead of the launch.

Developed by Nasa, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency, the telescope eventually settle into an orbit over 1.6 million kilometres away – about four times the distance between the Earth and the Moon.

Preparation for the project began in 1996, and construction was completed in 2016.

The telescope, which has faced several delays amid the coronavirus pandemic, is named after Nasa’s 1960s chief, and was described by the space agency as “the most complex space science observatory ever built”.

It is being billed as the successor to the Hubble space telescope, which orbits the Earth about 550 kilometres away.

“Webb will peer more than 13.5 billion years back into cosmic history to a time when the first luminous objects were evolving,” Nasa said.

“It’s the first observatory capable of exploring the very earliest galaxies, and could transform our understanding of the universe ... Webb will also study the atmospheres of planets orbiting other stars, and observe moons, planets, comets and other objects within our own solar system.”

“This data will reveal the molecules and elements that exist on distant planets and could unlock clues to the origins of our planet and life as we know it.”

Webb is about 100 times more sensitive than Hubble and is expected to revolutionise astronomers' understanding of the universe and our place in it.

Its instruments also make it ideal to look for potentially life-supporting atmospheres around numerous newly documented exoplanets – celestial bodies orbiting distant stars – and to observe worlds nearer to home, such as Mars and Saturn's icy moon Titan.

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  From launching the first Arab mission to the Moon to looking into the early universe using the world’s most powerful telescope – the new year is going to be a busy one for space exploration. The National looks at some of the most exciting missions scheduled for 2022. Photo: Nasa

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  Engineers at the Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre have been planning a Moon mission since 2017. They have built a 10-kilogram rover called Rashid that will study lunar soil and its properties. It is scheduled for a launch sometime between August to December 2022. Photo: Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre

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  The final prototype of the UAE's Rashid Moon rover. Photo: Mohammed bin Rashid Space Centre

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  Two Emirati candidate astronauts are to begin training at Nasa’s Johnson Space Centre in Houston, Texas, in January. Mohammed Al Mulla, a Dubai Police helicopter pilot, and Nora Al Matrooshi, a mechanical engineer, will spend two years in training. Chris Whiteoak / The National

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  Nora Al Matrooshi and Mohammed Al Mulla will learn the systems of the International Space Station, the Russian language, robotics and how to perform spacewalks. Once they graduate, both astronauts would become eligible for space missions. AP

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  Nora Al Matrooshi and Mohammed Al Mulla are the generation of astronauts that could go to the Moon one day. The UAE has its sights set on human missions to the lunar surface. Chris Whiteoak / The National

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  US space agency Nasa is preparing the space launch system and Orion spacecraft for the Artemis 1 launch on March 12, which will involve a three-week, uncrewed test flight to the Moon. AFP / Nasa

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  During the mission, the Orion spacecraft will fly 100 kilometres above the Moon’s surface and then use its gravitation force to become captured in an opposite orbit about 70,000 kilometres from the Moon. EPA / Nasa

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  Completion of China’s space station is scheduled for the end of 2022. The Tiangong’s core module Tianhe is already in orbit and has been hosting astronauts, including Wang Yaping, its first female astronaut. Xinhua / AP

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  Wang Yaping was sent to the station earlier this year. On November 8, the 41-year-old also became the first Chinese female astronaut to perform a spacewalk. Xinhua / AP

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  South Korea plans to launch its first lunar mission in 2022. The Korea Pathfinder orbiter will be launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Photo: Korea Aerospace Research Agency

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  The James Webb Space Telescope will be capable of 'looking back' 13.5 billion years to see the first stars and galaxies of the universe and search for signs of life. It was launched on Saturday, December 25, 2021, and it is expected to make several discoveries when it becomes operational in 2022. Reuters

The telescope will mainly view the cosmos on the infrared spectrum, allowing it to gaze through clouds of gas and dust where stars are being born, while Hubble has typically operated on optical and ultraviolet wavelengths.

The Webb had been due to lift off from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana on December 24, but local weather pushed that date back to Christmas Day.

It follows a postponement from an earlier December 22 targeted launch window that was delayed by electronic communications difficulties between the launch vehicle and its payload, Nasa said.

The telescope was named after James Webb, who led Nasa during the 1960s and was one of the architects of the Apollo moon programme.