Ariane 5 Upper Stage for Webb Now at Europe's Spaceport

The upper stage of the Ariane 5 rocket which will launch the James Webb Space Telescope later this year, is now at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.

Webb will be the largest, most powerful telescope ever launched into space. As part of an international collaboration agreement, ESA is providing the telescope’s launch service using the Ariane 5 launch vehicle. Working with partners, ESA was responsible for the development and qualification of Ariane 5 adaptations for the Webb mission and for the procurement of the launch service by Arianespace.

The Ariane 5 upper stage was transported in its container from ArianeGroup in Bremen to Neustadt port in Germany. There, it was loaded aboard the MN Toucan vessel alongside other Ariane 5 elements to continue its journey to Kourou, French Guiana.

The upper stage of Ariane 5 is manufactured by ArianeGroup, the prime contractor for the development and construction of the European family of Ariane 5 and Ariane 6 launch vehicles.

The James Webb Space Telescope is an international partnership between NASA, ESA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). It is an orbiting infrared observatory that will complement and extend the discoveries of the Hubble Space Telescope, with longer wavelength coverage and greatly improved sensitivity. The longer wavelengths enable Webb to look much closer to the beginning of time and to hunt for the unobserved formation of the first galaxies, as well as to look inside dust clouds where stars and planetary systems are forming today.

When NASA's James Webb Space Telescope begins science operations in 2022, one of its first tasks will be an ambitious program to map the earliest structures in the universe. Called COSMOS-Webb, this wide and deep survey of half-a-million galaxies is the largest project Webb will undertake during its first year. With more than 200 hours of observing time, COSMOS-Webb will survey a large patch of the sky—0.6 square degrees—with the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam). That's the size of three full moons. It will simultaneously map a smaller area with the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI).

(Sources: ESA and NASA. Image provided by ESA)