James Webb Telescope launches into space; what's next for NASA's Bn-dollar observatory?

After 30 years of development and months of anticipation, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) finally lifted off on December 25, from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana. The launch marked a Christmas that will be remembered for generations as it's on this day when the world's most powerful observatory ever built ventured into space to explore the early universe. As per the ground control team, the $10 billion telescope is now stable in space and has unfurled its solar arrays which are powering it to move further towards its orbit, the second Langrage point or L2. 

Now that Ariane Space's Ariane 5 rocket has escorted the telescope in space, the question that emerges is what's ahead for Webb henceforth. Well, its creators from NASA, ESA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) had explained what awaits the telescope in its path towards L2. 

29 'harrowing days' await Webb

In a video shared by NASA in late October, the agency had revealed that the Webb telescope is on for 29 'harrowing' days in space right after its launch. That's the approximate amount of days that Webb will take to reach its orbit which is 1.5 million kilometres from Earth. Initially, the scientists were worried about the telescope being damaged during the liftoff, as it was folded into the Ariane 5 rocket and had to endure rigorous vibrations as the rocket lifted off against Earth's gravity.

As of now, the JWST has deployed its solar arrays to charge its batteries and scientists will commence a two-week-long process where the antennas, mirrors, and sun shields will be deployed.

As for the said 'harrowing days' ahead of the JWST, Webb program director Greg Robinson had revealed that there are 50 major deployments that will be conducted by 178 release mechanisms. However, for each of these mechanisms to work, the scientists have to work their way through a whopping 300 single-point failure items. 

Image: Twitter/@ESAScience