The world's largest space telescope has passed more important tests before its launch in 2018.
The James Webb Telescope , known as the Super Hubble, is the most advanced space observatory in the world, designed to detect some of the world's greatest secrets, including the discovery of the first stars and galaxies formed after the Big Bang.
Now, NASA has completed the first contact between the telescope and the mission's operations center. The team verified registration and information transfer to terrestrial spacecraft currently on the Northrop Grumman system site in California.
Northrop Grumman
These contacts are required to support the launch of the telescope, which is 100 times more powerful than the previous telescopes, and then operated once it reaches orbit.
EPA
"This is the first time that all the different parts have been working together," said Alan Jones, director of Web telescope operations at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
NASA describes the telescope as a "powerful time machine with infrared vision that will bring us back to 13.5 billion years to see the first stars and galaxies."
NASA
The ground test consists of two parts: the Space Network (SN) and the Deep Space Network (DSN).
The DSN network consists of 3 ground stations, 120 meters long apart, in Canberra, Madrid and Goldstone.
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The telescope was connected to a specially designed cabin to simulate these earth stations. Another test will be conducted at the launch site in Kourou, French Guiana, about a month before the launch of the telescope in late 2018.
The telescope was fitted with a system known as the "moving table" at the end of last March to simulate the vibration of the Ariane V missile.
