If the striking 2020 rocket launch was the flight that took American astronauts back into orbit from American soil, then the most important rocket event of 2021 is surely the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope.
The successor to the mighty Hubble Observatory will be in orbit on October 31st.
Its purpose is to detect the very first stars that shine in the cosmos.
The carrier rocket will be the venerable Ariane-5 vehicle from Europe.
It is part of the agreement reached by the European Space Agency (ESA) to become involved in the US telescope project with the US space agency (NASA).
By providing the launch rocket and instruments, Esa guaranteed that European astronomers would use the new telescope once it was in use.
The workhorse Ariane-5 is nearing the end of his career. Only eight of the consumable vehicles are left, one of which is reserved for this special flight.
Ariane-5 has launched very important payloads over the years, but no one has invested so much time, effort and money in it.
JWST will go to the launch site of the European spacecraft in Kourou, French Guiana, at a cost of about $ 10 billion. This is the amount it cost to design and build, along with the amount spent for the observatory for five years.
‘This mission will be the mission of 2021, ”says Stéphane Israel, CEO of Arianespace, the French company that markets and manages the Ariane rocket in Europe.
“You know, the first time we had contact with Esa and Nasa about this project was in 2002. 18 years ago!”
JWST is currently undergoing final testing at aviation manufacturer Northrop Grumman in California.
‘The first equipment for the launch campaign will arrive [French Guiana] six months before launch. The satellite itself, which will be 6.6 tons, will arrive by boat eight weeks before the launch, ‘said Mr. Israel explains.
“JWST will be prepared in the [technical] facilities of our partner, the French space agency. The launch takes 26 minutes and you know that the final destination of the satellite is the famous Lagrange Point. ‘
This destination is a gravity ‘sweet spot’ about 1.5 million km from Earth. This is a place in the Sun-Earth system where spacecraft can maintain station by making relatively few orbital corrections, thus saving fuel. It is also a place that is free from the environmental disturbances that observatories experience closer to the earth, such as alternating shade and temperature fluctuations.
After reaching the top of the Ariane, it will take a number of weeks before JWST reaches the Lagrange point.
During this period, the telescope works through a series of critical deployments of structures that were folded during launch so that it could fit on the rocket.
These structures include the 6.5 meter wide mirror of JWST and its diamond-shaped, multiple sunshade of 21 to 14 meters.
None of this is the responsibility of Arianespace. The only task is to get the flagship observatory safely off the earth and into space.
“We worked with Esa and Nasa on the overall reliability of the Ariane-5. Nasa was very demanding. This is completely normal,” Israel told BBC News.