The launch of the James Webb space telescope, initially scheduled for December 18, has been confirmed for December 22: NASA has given the green light to resume refueling operations after tests conducted by technicians have not revealed damage following the accident occurred during the insertion of the telescope into the nose of the Ariane-5 rocket.
During the integration maneuvers a clamp for fixing had blown and the entire telescope had started to vibrate: the operations had therefore been interrupted to allow a thorough examination of the components of the instrument. As a precaution, the launch date had been postponed to no earlier than 22 December, but now that the accident seems to be over, the okay to load the fuel has arrived: the operations should last approximately 10 days.
The James Webb space telescope, destined to collect the legacy of the most famous Hubble, is destined for one of the most important scientific missions of the last decades. It will depart from the European Space Center of Kourou, in French Guiana, on December 22nd at 7:20 am local time (1:20 pm in Italy). Inserted inside the European Ariane-5 launcher, where it will be folded like an origami for reasons of size, it will finally be able to stretch its mirrors when it reaches its destination, in orbit around the Sun, at 1.5 million of kilometers from Earth.
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Source From: Ansa
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