Revolutionary James Webb telescope blasts off into space

DW News shows that a revolutionary telescope has been launched into space, marking the beginning of a new era of scientific exploration.

The James Webb telescope - named after a former head of NASA - lifted off on board a rocket from the European Space Agency's launch base in French Guiana. The launch is the culmination of several tough decades of work by European, Canadian and USA space agencies. Many call this the world's most powerful telescope.

It is nice to know that the launch went well (the thing did not explode or anything bad like that).

The $9bn observatory will seek out light from far away stars and galaxies, providing a glimpse into cosmic creation.

The $9bn observatory hurtled towards its destination 1.6 million km (1 million miles) away - or more than 4 times beyond the moon.

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope certainly soared up from French Guiana on South America’s northeastern coast, riding a European Ariane rocket into the morning sky on Saturday.

The next step is for the telescope’s large mirror and sunshield need to unfurl. They were folded origami-style to fit into the rocket’s nose cone. A risk is taken with this mission - hopefully there will not be many errors.

Scientists are certainly going to be able to examine the atmospheres of various planets and determine whether or not planets could be habitable and suitable for humans to possibly one day colonise. It is also interesting if "any lifeform" could exist on a planet.

This is a successor to the ageing Hubble Space Telescope. The long-delayed James Webb is named after NASA’s administrator during the 1960s. NASA certainly partnered with the European and Canadian space agencies to build and launch the new 7-tonne telescope, with thousands of people from 29 countries successfully working on it since the 1990s.

All around the whole world, various astronomers certainly had eagerly waited to see Webb finally taking flight after years of setbacks. It seems that last-minute technical snags bumped the launch nearly a week, then gusty wind pushed it to Christmas. Transporting the thing means it is shaking, so it has to be checked for perfection. It is also shaking during the space flight, and then later the mirrors and parts have to be perfectly aligned.

It is certainly a launch for humanity.

It seems that the launch was a a beautiful launch and everything went off without a hitch.

The telescope’s main showpiece is a gold-plated mirror more than 6.5 metres (21 feet) across.

Protecting the observatory is a wispy, 5-layered sunshield, vital for keeping the light-gathering mirror and heat-sensing infrared detectors at cold subzero temperatures. At 21 by 14 metres (70 by 46 feet), it is the size of a tennis court.

The plan is for the sunshield to be opened 3 days after liftoff, taking at least 5 days to unfold and lock into place. Next, the mirror segments should open up like the leaves of a drop-leaf table, 12 days or so into the fascinating space flight.

For the entire mission, hundreds of release mechanisms need to work perfectly in order for the telescope to succeed. This is really like nothing NASA has ever done before.