The $10 billion observatory, which is a joint project by
NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency, will blast off
on an Ariane 5 rocket from Spaceport in French Guiana.
It is currently stowed at contractor Northrop Grumman's
facilities in Redondo Beach, California, where it is awaiting shipping.
"Webb is an exemplary mission that signifies the
epitome of perseverance," said Webb's NASA program director Gregory
Robinson in a statement.
"We are extremely honored to orbit NASA's James Webb
Space Telescope with Ariane, a first for Arianespace and the European space
team," added Stephane Israel, CEO of Arianespace.
Researchers want to use the space telescope, the largest and
most powerful ever built, to look back in time over 13.5 billion years to see
the first stars and galaxies that formed, a few hundred million years after the
Big Bang.
A key feature is its ability to detect infrared, as by the
time the light from the first objects reaches our telescopes, it has shifted
towards the red end of the electromagnetic spectrum as a result of the
universe's expansion.
The current premier space telescope, Hubble, only has
limited infrared capacity.
Astronomers also hope the James Webb Space Telescope will
supercharge the discovery of alien worlds.
The first planets to orbit other stars were detected in the
1990s and there are now more than 4,000 exoplanets that have been confirmed
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