ASTRONOMERS, engineers and scientists based in Edinburgh played a pivotal role in the historic launch of the James Webb Space Telescope.
Launched from Europe’s spaceport in French Guiana on Christmas Day, the once-in-a-generation telescope, known as “Webb ”, will succeed the Hubble Space Telescope, and is the culmination of Decades-long scientific collaboration.
The mission is led by NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency and a Scottish scientist – Professor Gillian Wright (below) – led much of the design and build of one it its main components, the Mid-Infrared Instrument (Miri), which was backed by UK Government funding.
“To see Webb launch, with MIRI on board, after more than two decades is a seminal moment,” said Wright, who is European principal investigator and director at the UK Astronomy Technology Centre (UK ATC) at the Royal Observatory in Edinburgh.
“The MIRI team rose to the challenges and brought some exquisite engineering solutions to make it a reality.
“The Webb mission as a whole is an amazing technological breakthrough in scale and complexity, and this extends to the instruments, including MIRI.
“With the launch, all of us are excitedly anticipating the first MIRI data and the new view of the universe we will have.”
The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) RAL Space, University of Leicester, and Airbus UK were also involved in the European contribution.
The telescope is likely to redefine our understanding of the cosmos and unveil some of the secrets of the distant universe.
Webb will look back in time, closer to the beginning of the formation of stars and galaxies than ever before, to determine how the first star clusters formed.
Miri will be able to see the faint light from the most distant stars and peer through dust and gas to spot stars being born.
Although the telescope has successfully launched, this is only the beginning of its stellar journey.
Its giant mirror had to be launched as 18 segments folded inside the launch vehicle, and these must be unfolded with all the segments perfectly aligned, in space.
A huge sunshield the size of a tennis court is needed to keep the instruments cold enough to work and this must also be unfurled in space.
Webb will then go on a month-long journey to its destination, a million miles from Earth.
In the six months after launch, the observatory commissioning will take place – with the first results expected in the summer of 2022.
READ MORE: What is the James Webb telescope and why is it so important?
Professor Mark Thomson, STFC executive chair, said: “There are few times in a lifetime when one can celebrate the start of a transformational international science mission such as this.
“The UK, as part of the international team, has played a key role in getting us to this point – and our world-class scientists and engineers will continue to be pivotal in the mission’s success.
“Now Webb’s journey has begun, we wait eagerly to see the universe through Webb’s eyes and can look forward to scientific discoveries built upon the hard work of our scientists and engineers.”
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