James Webb Space Telescope reaches final orbit
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has confirmed that the James Webb Telescope has reached its final orbit around the second Sun-Earth Lagrange point (L2).
At this point, the James Webb Space Telescope sits more than 1.5 million kilometres away from Earth.
“Webb, welcome home!” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said upon its arrival at L2.
“Congratulations to the team for all of their hard work ensuring Webb’s safe arrival at L2 today. We’re one step closer to uncovering the mysteries of the universe.”
The first images from the telescope will only be available later this year.
“And I can’t wait to see Webb’s first new views of the universe this summer!” he said.
🏠 Home, home on Lagrange! We successfully completed our burn to start #NASAWebb on its orbit of the 2nd Lagrange point (L2), about a million miles (1.5 million km) from Earth. It will orbit the Sun, in line with Earth, as it orbits L2. https://t.co/bsIU3vccAj #UnfoldTheUniverse pic.twitter.com/WDhuANEP5h
— NASA Webb Telescope (@NASAWebb) January 24, 2022
The positioning of the space telescope is essential as it provides an unobstructed view from a cold and interference-free location.
The telescope must remain in a cool location as it relies on its infrared image processors to snap photographs in space.
NASA successfully deployed the James Webb Telescope’s mirror on 8 January 2022.
The successful unfolding of its mirror was a huge relief to NASA. Not only was the mission 20 years in the making, but the agency said it was also the most complicated deployment it has ever undertaken.
“The Webb observatory has 50 major deployments … and 178 release mechanisms to deploy those 50 parts,” mission systems engineer Mike Menzel explained.
“Every single one of them must work. Unfolding Webb is hands-down the most complicated spacecraft activity we’ve ever done.”
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