The largest space telescope in history arrives at its destination, behind the scenes as it prepares to go into full operation

The largest space telescope in history, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), will launch on Christmas Day 2021, a million miles from Earth. In the summer of 2022, this telescope, which brings together the best of science and technology, will start photographing scenery of the universe that no one has ever seen before.

However, NASA researchers working in the United States, Europe and Canada until then will be forced to work hard. Getting the instruments attached to this sophisticated and expensive telescope ready to successfully collect data on everything from tiny planets to distant galaxy nebulae is a multi-step process. Body.

"Things are pretty much going according to plan, but the next six months are going to be particularly busy because there's a lot of work to do," says NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. says JWST Senior Project Scientist John Mather.

That said, it's fair to say that the biggest hurdle has already been overcome. The launch was completed successfully, and over the next two weeks, a giant kite-shaped solar shield that blocked heat and light from the sun, moon, and earth was slowly deployed, and all 18 hexagonal mirrors were in place. because it was placed

"I can't contain my excitement," said NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. said Analynn Schneider, Project Manager for Mid-Infrared Instruments (MIRI) at JWST.

After launch, JWST continued its flight aiming for the Lagrangian point (L2), a special point where the gravity of the sun and the earth balances. Several other spacecraft, including the European Space Agency's (ESA) Planck Space Telescope, have been launched to the Lagrange point.

Defying gravity and keeping the spacecraft anchored at this point is as difficult as balancing a round ball on top of an upside-down bowl. Since the JWST is constantly moving away from L2, every few weeks we need to detonate a small amount of fuel and use that momentum to push it back into place.

However, it is likely that there will be plenty of fuel left, thanks to the NASA scientists' clever maneuvers that saved them in flight. The JWST team now expects the telescope to operate for much longer than the originally planned mission duration of 5 to 10 years, and in some cases as long as its predecessors, the Hubble Space Telescope and the Spitzer Space Telescope. I hope so.

"The lifespan of the JWST is probably 20 years, and it all depends on how well you pilot this unstable 'spacecraft,'" Mather said.

Now JWST is beyond the universe. For this reason, Mother, Schneider and other members of the team must communicate with JWST through the "Deep Space Network", a huge international antenna array under the control of JPL.

While the programmer who entered the command waited for the spacecraft to respond, the signal would be transmitted via antennas located in the Mojave Desert in California or eastern Australia, for example. There should be a slight delay due to the length of the distance.