The second of three mid-course maneuvers is performed by the James Webb Space Telescope. The image is from NASA.
NASA's newest flagship space observatory should have enough fuel to double its minimum mission life, according to an agency update.
The Ariane 5 rocket carried the James Webb Space Telescope into space. The agency's successor to the Hubble Space Telescope is called the James Telescope and is designed to look at the earliest days of the universe. NASA is confident that the observatory will have enough fuel to see much more use than the five-year minimum it was designed for.
NASA officials wrote in a statement that the observatory should have enough propellant to allow support of science operations for more than a decade. The Hubble Space Telescope has been in use for more than 30 years.
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope mission is live.
The Christmas launch of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope.
Incredible news! Thank you to the team! NASA's associate administrator for science, Thomas Zurbuchen, wrote in a post on Wednesday. The extra propellant is due to the precision of the Ariane 5 launch, which exceeded the requirements needed to put NASA Webb on the right path.
The agency can't give a specific estimate for how long the observatory will last.
The analysis shows that less propellant is needed to correct the trajectory of the ship. Many factors could ultimately affect the duration of operation, though the baseline estimate of propellant will be much more than the actual amount.
The final burn of the observatory will take place nearly a month after launch and will mark the last step in the deployment process. The first maneuver took place on Saturday after the launch.
The second Earth-sun lagrange point, or L2, is a location in space where the sun is not directly overhead. The telescope will be less vulnerable to solar radiation that can interfere with its observations.
The locations where the tugs of different bodies balance out are sometimes called "parking spots" for the spaceship. During its stay at L2, Webb will need to conduct occasional small thruster burns to maintain its proper location and orientation in space.
After the third burn, the remaining propellant will be used. NASA had dared to hope that the fuel left in the tank would be enough for the project. The initial launch precisely targeted the observatory's desired trajectory, meaning the spacecraft needed to spend less time and fuel on its first two correction maneuvers.
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