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So let’s talk about some James Webb Space Telescope facts.
The James Webb Space Telescope is a $10 billion project that began almost as soon as the Hubble Space Telescope became fully operational following a critical repair in 1993.
As a so-called “warm telescope”, Hubble would never be able to fully see the infrared spectrum of light due to interference from the Earth, the Sun, and even its own optical instruments.
Additionally, there is the difficulty that comes from space dust surrounding Earth.
In order to get the best view of the universe possible, Webb needs to be incredibly cold (about -388 degrees Fahrenheit/ -233 degrees Celsius) and incredibly far away from the Earth at a distance of about 1 million miles (1.5 million kilometers).
The Ariane 5 rocket is fueling up as we speak and everything is on track for a launch in about an hour.
Merry Christmas to one and all, by the way!
Welcome to TechRadar’s James Webb Space Telescope launch live blog! This is John, TechRadar’s resident science geek, and I obviously can’t tell you how excited we all are for this launch.
It truly is a historic moment for NASA, as this is absolutely one of the most complex space missions it has ever undertaken. There are nearly 350 single points of failure where the entire mission can collapse and we essentially have a $10 billion derelict flying off into space after nearly two decades of work.
Needless to say, these next 29 days are going to be the proverbial month from hell, and I know I for one will be following Webb’s progress for the next four weeks and keeping you all updated as we go.
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