James Webb Space Telescope launch LIVE updates: Milestone achieved with liftoff

The telescope has now separated from the upper stage. Scientists will unfurl Webb's solar arrays and following which Webb will use the propellants of its own to reach the second Langrage point.

Ariane 5 rocket launches with the James Webb Space Telescope into space. Marks a historic launch. Vehicle performance is nominal at 0.6 kms per second speed.

The Webb telescope will separate from the upper stage 27 minutes after the launch following which ground station in Kenya will be used to catch signals from the spacecraft.

Ariane 5's dual boosters separated at an altitude of 81 kilometres. Conditions normal. Telescope ready to eject at 171 kilometres altitude

The upper stage of Ariane 5 has ignited after separation from the lower stage rocket and will push the Webb telescope into its preliminiary orbit.

The Ariane 5 rocket is ready and loaded with propellants. Scientists are monitoring the weather ahead of the launch and it would take 27 minutes for the rocket to carry the Webb telescope into orbit. 7 minutes to go.

The rocket is just 15 minutes away from launching the Webb telescope and all lights are green for the liftoff, ESA informed.

ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher took to Twitter to express his elation over the international collaboration that resulted from the Webb mission. In his tweet, he wrote, "To watch a launch of this magnitude and at this level of international cooperation is to see incredible machinery in action. I can’t wait to see the science that comes from #Webb, but for now I’m proud of the work that goes on in the background".

Webb's creators have decided to install the Webb telescope in an orbit that is 1.5 million kilometres away from our planet. Called the second Langrage point or L2, it is a gravitationally stable point and the specialty of this orbit is that it allows the telescope to be in alignment with the Earth as it moves around the Sun. Besides, it would also prevent Webb's instruments from burning out by the sunlight. 

The Webb telescope has been plated with an extremely thin coating of gold, which obviously is for a scientific purpose. The reason why scientists chose the element gold for the mirrors is the property of high reflection of the infrared light to Webb's instruments. Gold reflects 99% of all the infrared light that it encounters as compared to silver (95%) and aluminum (85%). Besides, gold is also highly unreactive to the elements out there in space and thus the mirrors would not get tarnished easily. 

As NASA itself said, the Webb telescope is not a replacement of the Hubble telescope but a successor. Webb will build on the discoveries made by Hubble to peer further back in time and make unforeseen discoveries.

As for the specialties, Webb is much more powerful owing to the modern-day technology applied in its development. Webb has a 21-foot-tall gold-plated mirror, made of 18 small hexagonal mirrors, that collectively measure 6.5 metre in diameter as compared to a smaller 2.4 metre wide mirror in Hubble.

In addition to this, the Webb telescope has five sun shields that have a length equivalent to a tennis court when fully unfurled.

Standing 30 metres tall, the rocket is fitted with two massive boosters that will provide a thrust capacity of 1,364 tonnes of thrust capacity at the time of liftoff. The sparkling white behemoth has been customised to accommodate all the specific requirements of the Webb mission. It has venting ports around the base to make sure that the shock of depressurisation is minimal when the telescope separates from the rocket. Once the telescope is released into orbit, it will perform a rolling manoeuver ensuring Webb's solar-sensitive elements don't face the sun.

The Ariane 5 rocket's fuelling is complete one hour before the liftoff and the launch vehicle is sitting tight at the launch pad with the Webb telescope fitted inside it.

In simple terms, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has been developed to peer back in time and understanding our origins in the universe. Its observations of the universe will solely be based on beams of light in the infrared wavelengths that have travelled for billions of years. You see, unlike visible light, which emerges from the sun, infrared beams cannot be seen because of their longer wavelengths. A beam with longer wavelengths, infrared in Webb's case, will only denote that it has been out there in space and got stretched with the expansion of the universe. Now how will detecting these light beams help in space exploration? It's because they will carry information about their origination point and the areas of space they have been through, even if they originated 13 billion years ago.

ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer, who is currently aboard the International Space Station (ISS) wished the Webb telescope 'Godspeed' for its new journey that it is about to embark on. Taking to Twitter, Maurer sent on a message on behalf of the ISS crew. Listen to the message below.

With fingers crossed, the launch is still on as the weather looks favourable for liftoff, informed NASA. It was the weather that played villain, resulting in the delay of the December 24 launch to Christmas, December 25.

Fitting the Web telescope inside the rocket is something that truly gives an idea about the science and the intellect that was put behind the Webb mission. The brainiac scientists of NASA, ESA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) have designed Webb in a way that it can be folded like origami to fit inside the rocket which has a diameter of just 5.4 metres. Here's a little picture for you to effortlessly comprehend.

The Ariane 5 rocket, provided by Ariane Space, is standing tall and firm at the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana and is just two hours away from escorting the most complex and powerful scientific marvel into space. According to Everyday Astronaut, the rocket has a success rate of 95.4% and is counted among the most powerful rockets ever built.

The rocket has now been fuelled ahead of the liftoff which is scheduled in a launch window between 5:50 pm (IST) to 6:22 pm. You can tune in for the live-action which will begin shortly on NASA's official website, NASA TV, NASA app or its YouTube channel pasted below.