James Webb space telescope launch postponed

The launch of the James Webb Space Telescope was postponed again, due to communication problems. Initially, it was to take off on December 18; however, it was canceled due to technical failures.

The new date selected was the 22nd of this month, from Kourou (French Guiana). However, according to information released by NASA this Wednesday, the launch had to be suspended and rescheduled for December 24.

The reasons that NASA have argued for suspending the event are related to a “communication problem between the observatory and the launch system” on the ground.

The largest and most powerful telescope

The JWST telescope was transferred last October to French Guiana, aboard a ship from California and it is the largest and most powerful device ever sent into space.

This telescope, successor to the well-known Hubble (1990), was built by NASA in the United States, with the incorporation of instruments designed by both the European space agency, ESA, and the Canadian agency, CSA.

It is important to note that after its launch, the James Webb will maintain its orbit around the sun, 1.5 million kilometers from planet Earth. It is equipped with modern instruments such as image generators as well as spectrometers to decompose light and study the chemical and physical properties of the objects to be studied. With this equipment it will have a superior observation capacity to trace the infrared ray spectrum, which could help to unravel the origins of the universe.

M.Pino

With information from international media and social networks