The most powerful telescope of all time, launched to explore the oldest galaxies in the universe, was launched on Saturday from the Curonian Spit in French Guiana.
The James Web Space Telescope, built jointly by the European Space Agency, the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Canadian Space Agency, was launched into Europe by the Ariane V launch vehicle.
The telescope is expected to reach its destination 1.5 kilometers away in four weeks and its mission will continue for ten years.
The new telescope will replace the Hubble Space Telescope and is about 100 times more sensitive. It is intended to provide insight into the first galaxies to form in the early universe.
The telescope weighs 6,100 kilograms and its mirror diameter is 6.5 meters – three times larger than the Hubble Telescope launched in 1990. It has four instruments, including cameras and spectrometers, that can pick up extremely weak signals.
Work on the Webb telescope began about 30 years ago. It was planned to be launched into space already in 2018, but the completion of the telescope was delayed and the start was postponed several times. The telescope has cost $ 10 billion (€ 8.8 billion), although it was initially estimated to cost $ 3.5 billion (€ 3.1 billion).
The telescope is named after former NASA chief James Webb.
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