Scheduled to take place on December 22 in Kourou, French Guiana, the launch of the James Webb space telescope has been postponed and cannot take place before December 24, due to communication problems – announced NASA on Wednesday (15).
The launch of the JWST (James Webb Space Telescope) has already had to be postponed for several days, from 18 to 22 December, after an incident during takeoff preparations.
It is now a “communication problem between the observatory and the launch system” on the ground, explained the US space agency in its statement.
A new date will be announced by Friday (17), although takeoff, aboard an Ariane 5 rocket, will not take place “before December 24,” NASA said.
The JWST telescope will be the largest and most powerful ever sent into space to date. It was built in the United States under the direction of NASA and contains instruments designed by the European (ESA) and Canadian (CSA) space agencies.
The telescope arrived in French Guiana in October after a 16-day voyage aboard a ship from California.
JSWT is the successor to the Hubble telescope, which began operating in 1990. Its observation capacity is far superior. With its instruments capable of tracking the infrared ray spectrum, it can help unravel the origins of the universe.
The James Webb will orbit the Sun, 1.5 million kilometers from Earth.
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