This is all good news for James Webb after its release on December 25. And it is not for less, after almost 14 years of delay in its mission, all the details should point to success. Unlike its older brother, Hubble, James Webb does not have the ability to be repaired remotely. Everything had to be perfect for the mission.
Now, according to NASA, James Webb has received good news regarding its lifespan. According to mission calculations, the telescope has more fuel in your tanks than had been calculated at first. As long as to double the years that were foreseen for him to complete his work. That is to say, of the 5 that the Space Agency had now imposed, James Web has passed to more than 10. More than enough time for him to continue taking measurements and images of the cosmos.
Where did you get that extra fuel? On the one hand, point to a correction in the launch trajectory at the time of its separation from the Ariane 5 rocket. Although the calculations were made to make a separation at 33 minutes after liftoff, James Webb ended up disengaging at 29 minutes. Those 4 minutes apart are essential to extend its useful life. Coupled with a good launch positioning and clean take-off process, James Webb can celebrate a success at the beginning of his story.
And in this, James Webb looks a lot like Hubble. Of the 15 years that it had planned for its useful life, Hubble is going for a whopping 30 years working non-stop.
Of course, these measurements – optimistically taken from NASA – are available whatever happens in a few years. From NASA they warn, however, that There are many factors that can affect the lifespan of James Webb in a few years.
Until now, they explain from the Space Agency, the telescope has managed to deploy its communication antenna. The same that you need to emit the signals and information captured throughout your journey and send it to Earth for further study; as it will help send to Earth from the observatory at least a total of 28.6 Gigabytes of scientific data up to date. A whole time machine that will tell us, or at least try, what is the origin of our universe. Now, James Webb has almost a month to go to get to the point where he will begin collecting data from the cosmos. Although now you can do it with a little more propellant, which gives you more room in the future.