James webb space telescope launch

  NASA's  lifetime cost for the project is expected to be US$9.7 billion, of which US$8.8 billion was spent on spacecraft design and development and US$861 million is planned to support five years of mission operations.

  That's why JWST is so expensive. Because  we've spent two decades building and testing every single piece a million ways to do everything to make sure it doesn't have problems

  Astronomers have outlined their vision for what comes after the James Webb Space Telescope. Not just the next space telescope to be launched — likely NASA's  Nancy Grace Roman telescope  in 2027 —but the next Webb-like telescope: a big flagship project for the future, recommended by astronomers today.

  With its gold mirrors, JWST should be able to see the infrared light from galaxies that are  up to 13.6 billion light-years away from Earth . And that's what makes the telescope a window into the past. Light from objects 13.6 billion light-years away will have taken that many years to reach the telescope's mirror.

  You can watch the momentous lift-off attempt, scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 25, 2021 at 4:20 a.m. PT (7:20 a.m. ET)  online on NASA TV . We'll also be live-blogging the event bright and early on Christmas morning to keep you updated in real time on the ambitious liftoff.

  The  approximately $10 billion  telescope, scheduled to launch as early as December 25, is designed to see light from the earliest galaxies to form after the Big Bang, and will let scientists study the atmospheres of planets that orbit distant stars, to search for signs of life.

  Unlike Hubble, it will be able to see  right into “stellar nurseries” , where stars and their planetary systems are being born. The observations will answer questions about how the clouds of dust and gas collapse to form stars and how planetary systems form around them.

  Hubble is best seen from areas of the Earth that are  between the latitudes of 28.5 degrees north and 28.5 degrees south . This is because Hubble's orbit is inclined to the equator at 28.5 degrees. ... So northern parts of Australia have great access to seeing the HST and can catch the telescope flying right overhead.

  After nearly 30 years and $10 billion, the James Webb Space Telescope will take flight. Launching Christmas Day, the telescope is the largest and most powerful space telescope ever built. The James Webb Space Telescope  is 100 times more powerful than the Hubble Space Telescope , which launched into orbit in 1990.

  With NASA and the European Space Agency's Hubble pushing 32 years in orbit,  the bigger, 100 times more powerful Webb  is widely viewed as its successor even though the two are vastly different.

The Webb space telescope is currently scheduled to launch no earlier than 7:20 a.m. on Saturday (Dec. 25) from   the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana

  Liftoff of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, designed to peer farther than ever into the universe, has been delayed until Christmas Day at the earliest,  due to poor weather at the launch site on South America's northeastern coast

After launch, it'll take Webb   about 30 days   to get to its destination. Once ensconced in orbit around L2 — Webb will circle the point, not simply sit in it — and fully checked out, the telescope will begin an ambitious and varied observing campaign