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<ul><li>Europe’s <keyword id="3158761" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Vega-rocket">Vega rocket</keyword> suffered an ‘anomaly’ after launching today causing the loss of Spain’s SEOSat-Ingenio, and the French TARANIS satellites.</li><li>The SEOSat-Ingenio is Spain's first Earth observation satellite for an ESA program to study our planet. The project was initiated in 2008 and cost the government around €200 million.</li><li>This is the second major malfunction that the Vega rocket has been witness to in two years. </li></ul><br />Today was supposed to be a momentous day for Spain, with the European country launching its first optical imaging satellite into orbit. Instead, the milestone was left unfulfilled, with <keyword id="516790" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Arianespace">Arianespace</keyword>’s Vega rocket failing within minutes of taking off from French Guiana.<br /><br />The launch occurred at around 7:30 am (IST) with Spain’s SEOSat-Ingenio, and the French TARANIS satellites settled in to be deployed 700 kilometers above the Earth’s surface. Roughly eight minutes later, Arianespace — the European Space Agency’s (ESA) commercial arm — encountered an ‘anomaly.’<br /><br />Within minutes, CEO Stephane Israel announced, “We can now confirm the mission is lost,” to some perplexed viewers watching the live stream. <br /><br /><strong>Vega’s second malfunction<br /></strong>This is the second major malfunction that the Vega rocket has been witness to in two years. Last year in June, the rocket failed during the launch of a satellite for the United Arab Emirates (UAE). A faulty motor on the booster was later revealed to be the cause.<br /><br />Vega made a triumphant return this year on September 2, launching 53 small satellites in one go for 21 different customers. The rocket can carry up to 1,5000 kilograms to polar orbits just over 700 kilometers in orbit.<br /><br />However, on its second go today, the 30-meter tall launch vehicle has proven to be less than reliable. That said — since its inception in 2012 — Vega has seen 15 successful launches before last year’s disaster.<br /><br />"Eight minutes after the liftoff, and immediately after the ignition of the engine of the fourth stage of Vega, the Avum stage, we observed the degradation of the trajectory. It means that the speed was not nominal anymore,” he explained. <br /><br />The company is yet to disclose the exact cause for failure during the launch but is currently investigating the issue. <br /><br /><strong>Spain’s lost satellite<br /></strong>The SEOSat-Ingenio is Spain's first Earth observation satellite for an ESA program to study our planet. The project was initiated in 2008 and cost the government around €200 million.<br /><br />The satellite is equipped with a high-resolution dual camera that can take pictures of the planet with a resolution of 2.5 meters with a field of view that can look not only sideways but also downwards. The capability allows it to observe any point on Earth over three days. <br /><br />According to the Head of Spain’s Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology (CDTI) Jorge Lomba, the SEOSat-Ingenio is the first satellite that Spain has indigenously designed, developed, and operated.<br /><br />Its applications, however, were intended to go beyond just Spain or even Europe. It will also survey North Africa and Latin America. The expectation was the satellite’s cameras would have covered 2,500,000 square kilometers per day — more than five times the area of Spain — and take up to 600 images per day.<br /><strong><br />SEE ALSO:<br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/policy/economy/news/ahead-of-modi-and-xi-virtual-meet-at-brics-summit-india-foreign-minister-warns-of-rcep-damaging-consequences/articleshow/79257760.cms">India's Foreign Minister warns of RCEP's 'damaging consequences' ahead of Modi and Xi's virtual meet at BRICS summit</a><br /><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/policy/economy/news/indian-government-lays-down-deadline-for-digital-news-companies-to-share-fdi-details-with-the-ib-ministry/articleshow/79256146.cms">Digital news publications in India have one month to share FDI details with the government — and till October next year to comply</a><br /><br /></strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/ecommerce/news/flipkart-buys-ar-firm-scapic-to-boost-its-user-experience/articleshow/79256274.cms"><strong>Flipkart makes yet another acquisition – buys 100% stake in Augmented Reality startup Scapic</strong></a><br />

Spain’s first optical imaging satellite fails to reach orbit as the European rocket breaks down

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Europe has been dependent on Elon Musk's SpaceX to reach space — but that could be about to change.</li><li>The Ariane 6, Europe's answer to SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, is set to launch on Tuesday. </li></ul><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spacex-elon-musk">SpaceX</a> is dominating the global space industry — but Europe is hoping a new rocket will change that.</p><p>On Tuesday, the <a target="_blank" href="https://cnes.fr/en/press-releases/ariane-6-inaugural-launch-targeted-july-9">200-foot tall Ariane 6 rocket</a> plans to launch for the first time after years of delays from a spaceport in French Guiana, carrying the hopes of Europe's space industry and its ambition of competing with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk">Elon Musk's</a> rocket firm into orbit.</p><p>Over the past few years, Europe has been <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musks-spacex-hired-feurope-rocket-launches-after-russia-war-2022-10">largely dependent on SpaceX to launch satellites into space</a>, thanks to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-06-05/europe-plans-ariane-6-rocket-s-debut-launch-in-july-after-delays">lengthy delays</a> to Ariane 6 and the war in Ukraine, which left European nations unable to use Russia's Soyuz rockets.</p><p>In 2023, European Union officials struck <a target="_blank" href="https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-signs-security-deal-us-launch-satellite-spacex-elon-musk/">a reported $195 million deal</a> to have SpaceX launch four of its Galileo global navigation satellites.</p><p>More recently, the Ariane 6 suffered a major blow when <a target="_blank" href="https://www.eumetsat.int/meteosat-satellite-be-launched-spacex">European weather satellite operator Eumetsat</a> announced it would use SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket to launch its next-generation weather satellite, rather than the Ariane 6 as planned.</p><p>That decision stunned European officials, with French space agency head Philippe Baptiste <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/philippe-baptiste-0bb0b76_s%C3%A9v%C3%A8re-d%C3%A9convenue-pour-ariane-6-une-agence-activity-7212200978383548417-nxCh/?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=member_desktop">calling it a "quite brutal change"</a> and criticizing Eumetsat for not buying European.</p><p>Those officials hope a successful launch will lessen Europe's reliance on Elon Musk, with the billionaire's satellite internet service Starlink already playing <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-goes-after-musk-disputes-claim-russia-not-using-starlink-2024-2">a crucial — and controversial —</a> role in Ukraine's fight against Russia. </p><p>"This powerful rocket is the culmination of many years of dedication and ingenuity from thousands across Europe and, as it launches, it will re-establish Europe's independent access to space," said Josef Aschbacher, Director General of the European Space Agency, <a target="_blank" href="https://cnes.fr/en/press-releases/ariane-6-inaugural-launch-targeted-july-9">in a press release.</a></p><p>It remains to be seen whether Ariane 6 is capable of competing with SpaceX, which dominates the global space industry.</p><p>Arianespace, the firm behind the rocket, says <a target="_blank" href="https://www.wsj.com/business/europe-ariane-6-rocket-launch-spacex-5559a826?mod=hp_lead_pos9">it will offer prices that are competitive with</a> SpaceX's current rockets. </p><p>But unlike Space X's Falcon, the Ariane 6 is not reusable, with ESA executive Toni Tolker-Nielsen <a target="_blank" href="https://spacenews.com/europe-aims-to-end-space-access-crisis-with-ariane-6s-inaugural-launch/#:~:text=With%20only%20nine%20or%2010,need%20it%20at%20this%20point.">telling Space News</a> that there aren't enough launches planned to justify building a multi-use rocket.</p><p>That decision has attracted criticism from Musk. "They need to go all-in on reusability or be utterly uncompetitive," he wrote <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1683865021191794688">in a post on X last year</a>.</p><p>"Rockets are no different from other transport technologies," he said, adding: "No one would buy a single-use airplane."</p>

Europe hopes to take on Elon Musk's SpaceX with new rocket launch

<ul><li>The Indian Space Research Organisation kicked off the 2020 launch calendar by sending the GSAT 30 communications satellite into space.</li><li>The satellite launched from the Guiana Space Center at 2:35am along with Eutelsat's communications satellite.</li><li>The mission lasted a total of 38 minutes. </li><li>Here's a look at the first launch of 2020 as Business Insider followed it every step of the way.</li></ul>India and Europe successfully launched the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) GSAT 30 and the Eutelsat Konnect satellites into space. This is the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/isros-gsat-30-satellite-successfully-rides-the-ariane-5-rocket-into-orbit-abroad-the-first-launch-of-2020/articleshow/73312278.cms">first launch of 2020.</a>.<br /><br />"Its the first time that we have launched so early in the year... It’s also the 40th year of Arianespace, the anniversary is in March," said Stéphane Israël, CEO of Arianespace, ahead of the launch.<br /><br />This was the 23rd launch of an <keyword id="2964782" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="ISRO-satellite">ISRO satellite</keyword> by Arianespace — the commercial arm of the European Space Agency (ESA). Overall, it was the 251st launch in the Ariane-series. <br /><br />"The mission will be around 38 minutes… We are going to lift at 6:05 am, the weather is great — it's absolutely perfect. I have a launch window of 1 hour 55 minutes and we will lift off towards the east," Israël explained.<br /><br />GSAT 30 is aimed at providing connectivity in even the most remote regions of the country. Using GSAT 30’s bands, Indian cable operators will be able to broadcast their content to the Gulf countries, Australia and other regions within Asia. It is ISRO’s 41st communications satellite.<br /><br /><strong>Here’s a play-by-play of the first launch of 2020:</strong><br />

Play-by-play ISRO's GSAT-30 launch, from lift-off to reaching space

<ul><li>India's GSAT-30 communications satellite was successfully placed into Geostationary Transit Orbit (GTO) on Friday morning by Arianespace.</li><li>Ariane 5ECA is the first rocket to launch in 2020.</li><li>The Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) satellite was accompanied by the <keyword id="8574047" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="eutelsat-konnect-satellite">Eutelsat Konnect satellite</keyword> from France.</li></ul>In the first launch of 2020,  two satellites —including the Indian Space Research Organisation’s (<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/chandrayaan-3-and-gaganyaan-top-priorities-for-isro-in-2020/articleshow/73063629.cms">ISRO</a>) <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/isra-gsat-30-to-provide-tv-channels-to-gulf-counties-asian-countries-and-australia/articleshow/73226784.cms">GSAT 30</a> — soared into orbit Friday morning from the Guana Space Center (CSG) in French Guiana aboard an <keyword id="3123279" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ariane-5-rocket">Ariane 5 rocket</keyword>.<br /><br />“It’s an excellent start of 2020 with an excellent launch. ISRO has opened its mission calendar for the year 2020 with the successful launch of GSAT 30 by Ariane 5,” said. P. Kunhikrishanan, Director of the U R Rao Satellite Centre, during the post-launch press conference.<br /><br />“Incidentally Arianespace’s started its launch innings in 2019 with launch of an Indian satellite as well, the GSAT-31,” he added.<br /><br />
  
  <div type="image" title="launch4_edited" msid="73314230" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;P. Kunhikrishnan, Director of URSC/ISRO&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>





<br />European Space Agency’s (<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/isro-gsat-30-launch-on-january-17-with-european-space-agency/articleshow/73184551.cms">ESA</a>) commercial arm — Arianespace — launched the satellites off the northern coast of South America at 02:30 am IST on Friday.<br /><br />The 51.03-meter tall rocket weighing 780 tons <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/isro-gsat-30-launch-explained-step-by-step/articleshow/73313054.cms">climbed into the sky</a> with 2.9 million pounds of thrust from its core engine and solid-fueled boosters.<br /><br />This may be the first launch of 2020 but its one of the last for Ariane 5. ESA’s Ariane 6 is scheduled for its first launch in 2020. After a transition period of five years, Ariane 5 will take its last trip into space in 2023.<br /><br />
  

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  <div type="image" title="launch7_edited" msid="73313123" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Ariane 5ECA lift-off&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>


<br />Play-by-play of 2020’s first rocket launch<br /></strong>Ariane 5ECA <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/isro-gsat-30-launch-explained-step-by-step/articleshow/73313054.cms">blazed a trail across the equatorial sky</a> coming out on the other side of the clouds. Powering its way into space, Ariane 5 broke the sound barrier and was travelling at Mach 1 one minute into the launch.<br /><br />
  
  
  
  
  
  













	
  <div type="image" title="launch2_edited" msid="73314232" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Ariane 5 breaks through the clouds carrying two communications satellites&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>



<br />The rocket’s boosters did 90% of the work, pushing the payloads against Earth’s gravity by burning 2 tons of propellant per second — an average year’s worth of gas for a car.<br /><br />
	
  <div type="image" title="launch3_edited" msid="73314244" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Boosters propel Ariane 5 into the sky after lift off&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>



<br />The first payload — GSAT 30’s fellow passenger the Eutelsat Konnect satellite — was deployed at an altitude of 1000 kilometres. The broadband communications satellite for the Paris-based company is based on a new satellite design by Thales Alenia Space with an all-electric propulsion system and xenon plasma thrusters.<br /><br />After a cumulative 38 minutes, Ariane 5 placed the GSAT 30 into geostationary transit orbit (GTO). From here, the satellite will raise its orbit from the to the final circular geostationary orbit (GSO) by controlled firing of its motor. That’s when it will finally deploy its solar panels and antennas.<br /><br /><strong>What does GSAT 30 do?<br /></strong>India’s 3357-kilo GSAT 30 satellite is a replacement for Insat 4A — launched back in 2005, also abroad an Ariane 5 rocket. However, the Insat 4A is well beyond its designated lifespan of 10 years.<br /><br />
	
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  <div type="image" title="GSAT30_edited" msid="73312369" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;GSAT 30 satellite arrives at French Guiana&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>



















<br />GSAT 30 will operate from 83 degrees east longitude from Earth’s geostationary orbit. It will help cable operators broadcast their content overseas. ISRO’s claims the GSAT 30 will increase the C-band and K-band coverage over India, its islands, Asian countries, Gulf countries and Australia. <br /><br />"GSAT 30 will provide continuity of direct-to-home TV services from this slot, as well as digital satellite news-gathering and very small aperture terminal services," said ISRO chairman K. Sivan prior to the launch. <br /><br />
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  <div type="image" title="GSAT30_3_edited" msid="73312454" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;GSAT 30 satellite&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div>



















<br />That satellite has been designed to last at least 15 years with 12 C-band transponders and 12 Ku-band transponders. It has three-axis stabilised momentum-based control systems with a host of sensors, reaction wheels and thrusters. <br /><br />"The Ku-band transponders will provide services over the Indian mainland and islands. The satellite employs high-power amplifier and state-of-the-art antenna systems to meet the requirements of multiple users," Sivan explained. <br /><br />In order to maneuver in space, the satellite hastwo large propellant tanks accommodated within its central structural cylinder. The liquid apogee motor — GSAT 30’s main engine — is mounted on a separate deck with interfaces with the bottom ring of the cylinder. The power system of the satellite includes double-side solar arrays for generating electric power in addition a lithium-ion battery of 180 amps of capacity.<br /><br />Until now, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has launched 20 other GSAT satellites — 14 of which are still in service. The last one was GSAT-31, launched in February last year. However, ISRO plans to launch at least three more GSAT satellites in 2020.<br /><br /><strong>See also:</strong><strong><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/isro-gsat-30-launch-on-january-17-with-european-space-agency/articleshow/73184551.cms">India and Europe get ready to launch ISRO's GSAT 30 satellite</a><br /><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/isra-gsat-30-to-provide-tv-channels-to-gulf-counties-asian-countries-and-australia/articleshow/73226784.cms">ISRO's first launch of 2020 will ensure Indians settled abroad can continue to watch Tata Sky, Star channels and more</a><br /><br /></strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/chandrayaan-3-and-gaganyaan-top-priorities-for-isro-in-2020/articleshow/73063629.cms"><strong>India's second mission to land on the Moon, Chandrayaan 3, confirmed by ISRO chief</strong></a><br />

ISRO's GSAT 30 satellite successfully rides the Ariane 5 rocket into orbit abroad the first launch of 2020

<br /><br /><ul><li>ISRO’s GSAT-30 will launch on 17 January. <br /></li><li>The satellite will replace the INSAT-4A satellite currently used by cable operators like Tatasky and STAR group to broadcast their channel overseas.<br /></li><li>It will provide extended coverage in the C-band, which will help increase coverage over India, its islands, Gulf countries, a large number of Asian countries and Australia.<br /></li></ul>Internet connectivity, streaming services and watching videos on the go has many people taking television services for granted. Yet cable television is still the main source of information for a lot of people who can’t necessarily afford the internet or live in areas with sparse connectivity.<br /><br />The Indian Space Research Organisation’s (<a href="https://www.isro.gov.in/Spacecraft/gsat-30">ISRO</a>) GSAT-30 will launch on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/isro-gsat-30-launch-on-january-17-with-european-space-agency/articleshow/73184551.cms">launch on 17 January 2019</a> and it will be the first Indian satellite to be sent into space this year. It will act as the replacement for India’s INSAT-4A satellite — one of the first satellites that India ever launched.<br /><br />INSAT-4A’s usage of the Ku-band and C-band is how cable operators like <a href="https://www.dthhelp.net/tatasky-channel-list">Tatasky</a> or the STAR group make their broadcasts available abroad. The GSAT-30 will allow them to continue that coverage.<br /><br />"It provides extended coverage in C-band, which helps the television broadcasted to beam their programme over India, Gulf countries, a large number of Asian countries and Australia," says ISRO.<br /><br /><strong>INSAT-4A living on borrowed time<br /></strong><br />INSAT-4A was launched in 2005 and designed to last 12 years. Fifteen years later, the satellite’s still running. The satellite efficient conservation fuel consumption is in part due to how that function was designed by Bajaj Platina’s R&amp;D team. <br /><br />The GSAT-30 was already supposed to be up in orbit in June last year, but its launch was pushed to 2020 as ISRO focussed on launching military satellites to boost strategic assets in space.<br /><br />Initially speculated to launch mid-2020, Arianespace — the commercial arm of the European Space Agency (ESA) — <a href="https://twitter.com/arianespaceceo/status/1201892408671252480">announced</a> that it will be carrying GSAT-30 into Earth’s lower orbit in January.<br /><br />"GSAT-30 will be extensively used for supporting VSAT networks, television uplinking and teleport services, digital satellite news gathering (DSNG), DTH television services, cellular backhaul connectivity and many such applications," says ISRO.<br /><br />Now, the satellite is scheduled to launch on January 17 from ESA’s Kourou launch base in French Guiana on board the Ariane-5 rocket.<br /><br /><strong>See also:<br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/isro-gsat-30-launch-on-january-17-with-european-space-agency/articleshow/73184551.cms">India and Europe get ready to launch ISRO's GSAT 30 satellite</a><br /><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/isro-outlook-2020-indian-private-sector-eyes-30-billion-space-launch-pie/articleshow/72812429.cms">ISRO outlook 2020: Indian private sector eyes $30 billion space launch pie</a><br /><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/chandrayaan-3-and-gaganyaan-top-priorities-for-isro-in-2020/articleshow/73063629.cms">India's second mission to land on the Moon, Chandrayaan 3, confirmed by ISRO chief</a></strong><br />

ISRO's first launch of 2020 will ensure Indians settled abroad can continue to watch Tata Sky, Star channels and more

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p>The long slog to finish the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), NASA's tennis-court-sized successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, has been difficult and expensive.</p><p>It has taken nearly 20 years, billions of dollars, and lots of political battles to get to this point, so writers were quick to play up the space agency announcing its latest big milestone on Wednesday: the completion of the telescope's mirror.</p><p>"The James Webb Space Telescope Is Complete," <a href="http://www.popularmechanics.com/space/telescopes/a23670/james-webb-space-telescope-complete/" target="_blank">announced Popular Mechanics</a>. "World's Largest Space Telescope Is Complete, Expected to Launch in 2018," Space.com wrote in <a href="http://www.space.com/34593-james-webb-space-telescope-complete-2018-launch.html" target="_blank">a similar box-checking exercise</a>. And the Daily Mail went large with the&#xa0;<a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3901046/World-s-biggest-space-telescope-complete-Super-Hubble-probe-spot-alien-life-launch-2018.html" target="_blank">all-caps declaration:</a>&#xa0;"World's biggest space telescope the James Webb is READY."</p><p>Who doesn't want to see a giant observatory go into space and take <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-best-hubble-telescope-pictures-2013-4">amazing photos of the universe</a>, maybe help unravel the mysteries of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/macho-black-holes-dark-matter-problem-2016-8/">dark matter</a>, and perhaps find out if the nearest Earth-like planet <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/proxima-b-habitable-atmosphere-jwst-2016-9">has a cozy, life-cradling atmosphere</a>?</p><p>I certainly do.</p><p>But in reality the $8.7 billion telescope is not finished, complete, or ready for launch.</p><p>On the contrary, the most harrowing stages of the telescope's mission have only just begun.</p><h2>The world's most expensive mirror</h2><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p>The rush of JWST news came out of a Nov. 2 press conference held by NASA.</p><p>The big update? Engineers just finished building the most difficult of JWST's three main chunks: <a href="http://jwst.nasa.gov/mirrors.html">the primary mirror segment</a>. (The other two segments are the sunshield and bus, or main chassis, of the spacecraft.)</p><p>The mirror itself is made out of 18 gold-plated panels of beryllium, since that metal is "both strong and lightweight," according to NASA.</p><p>Behind the shiny exterior there's also a suite of instruments and electronics that make it all work - and those have finally been installed and tested, along with the mirror's assembly.</p><p>"This telescope segment of NASA's most ambitious space observatory stands complete and tall in the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center cleanroom," a narrator said in a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1ybe4yr2no">dramatic YouTube video</a>.</p><p>Finishing the mirror is indeed a huge deal, since it's the most complex part of JWST. In fact, NASA said it had to create and perfect 10 new technologies to make it work.</p><p>The reason the mirror is segmented and not one piece, like Hubble's', is because it is seven times larger:</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p>Arranged like that, JWST's mirror is much too big to fit into any rocket. But it has a trick: The segments allow it to fold up and fit into the tight space of a fairing on top of a rocket.</p><p>In space, the segments will unfold and work together as one big mirror, helping focus normally invisible infrared light from the universe toward a suite of electronics.</p><p>"[S]cientists will peer back over 13.5 billion years to see the first stars and galaxies forming out of the darkness of the early universe," NASA employee Sarah Loff wrote in <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/james-webb-space-telescope-mirrors-will-piece-together-cosmic-puzzles">a Nov. 2 image feature</a>.</p><p>She continued:</p><p style="padding-left: 30px;">"Unprecedented infrared sensitivity will help astronomers [...] understand how galaxies assemble over billions of years. Webb will see behind cosmic dust clouds to see where stars and planetary systems are being born. It will also help reveal information about atmospheres of planets outside our solar system, and perhaps even find signs of the building blocks of life elsewhere in the universe."</p><p>JWST is not out of the woods yet, though.</p><h2>Next up: 2 torturous years</h2><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div></div><p>Now that the telescope segment is finished, NASA must show that its marvel of engineering can survive launch aboard one of the world's most powerful rockets, then in the harsh environment of space.</p><p>Although the space agency has already shaken, chilled, and rattled a lot of JWST's components, it needs to see if they'll hold up fully assembled.</p><p>So NASA will now subject the mirror segment to those conditions in labs all over the country in the coming months.</p><p>"It - hopefully - is a formality," Jason Hylan, the lead engineer for JWST's instruments, told reporter Scott Dance <a href="http://www.baltimoresun.com/health/maryland-health/bs-hs-webb-telescope-mirror-20161102-story.html">at The Baltimore Sun</a>.</p><p>Rockets vibrate like crazy as they blast off, so shaking is one key test. Workers in 2015 finished building a house-size table to throttle the telescope, called the <a href="https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20150000768.pdf">Large Vibration Test System</a>, at NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland - and that's where they're testing the mirror segment right now. The forces will exceed 10 times stronger than gravity's pull.</p><p>Next, JWST will go into one of the loudest rooms on Earth.</p><p>Called the <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/james-webb-space-telescopes-isim-passes-severe-sound-test">Acoustic Test Chamber</a>, it's 42 feet tall and has 6-foot-wide speaker horns that will blast out 150 decibels of sound for 2 minutes at a time. (For comparison, a clap of thunder at sea level is about 120 decibels, while eardrums burst close to 150 decibels.)</p><p>If the mirror passes those punishing tests, it will fly aboard a giant jet and to Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Engineers will then pop it into a <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/webb/news/chamber-a.html">giant vacuum chamber</a>, suck out all the air, and let it sit there - freezing at cryogenic temperatures - for 90 days. This will simulate what it's like for the mirror to sit completely in the dark of its sunshield some 930,000 miles away from Earth (more on this in a moment).</p><p>By August 2017, NASA hopes to ship the mirror to Northrop Grumman's facility in Los Angeles, where workers will attach it to the sunshield and bus, finally completing the telescope.</p><p>But JWST's tour still won't be over: It will have to make its way to South America.</p><h2>Cold and alone in deep space</h2><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="Arianespace/ESA/NASA" title_caption="A cutaway illustration of the James Webb Space Telescope (with gold mirror segments) folded up into an Ariane 5 rocket." class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/581b5e5a362ca478018b6b52-960/ariane-5-rocket-esa-james-webb-space-telescope.jpg"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span></a><p class="source"><span><a href="http://jwst.nasa.gov/launch.html">Arianespace/ESA/NASA</a></span></p><p class="caption">A cutaway illustration of the James Webb Space Telescope (with gold mirror segments) folded up into an Ariane 5 rocket.</p></div><p></p></div></div><p>With help from the European Space Agency (ESA), NASA will ship the assembled, folded-up telescope to a launch facility near Kourou, French Guiana, which is just north of Brazil.</p><p>JWST will <a href="http://jwst.nasa.gov/launch.html">launch from French Guiana</a> because the Earth's spin there is more than 1,000 mph, thanks to a significant bulge near the equator. (The launch facility is only 310 miles north of it.)</p><p>The extra speed of Earth's rotation there will help fling JWST into deep space. (For similar reasons, this is why almost all US rocket launches happen in the south; it requires less fuel to get into orbit.)</p><p>NASA, ESA, and Arianespace (the maker of the Ariane 5) will load JWST on top of the roughly $200 million rocket then launch it, ideally around October 2018.</p><p>Assuming the launch goes off without a hitch - the Ariane 5's safety record has been flawless over 74 missions since 2003 - JWST will begin a 30-day journey to a point four times farther than the moon is from Earth.</p><p>While it flies there, it will slowly unfurl its sunshield and instruments over the course of two weeks.</p><p>Here's how that might look, according to a Northrup Grumman animation:</p><p><div></div></p><p>Its final destination is a point where the gravitational pulls of Earth, the moon, and the sun cancel out into a very stable <a href="http://jwst.nasa.gov/orbit.html">Lagrange point, called L2</a>.</p><p>By hanging out at L2, the telescope will barely move, protecting its shiny and fragile sunshield from being torn to bits. JWST will also stay far away from the atmospheric gases of Earth, which can mess with its orbit. Staying in L2 will also help keep the mirror always pointed into the blackness of space, while its reflectors bouncing away warm sunlight.</p><p>After 4 to 6 months of staying in L2, the mirror will have cooled to a mind-numbing -388 degrees Fahrenheit (-233 degrees Celsius), allowing JWST to start its mission of peering at infrared light from the depths of space sometime in early 2019.</p><p>It should see objects that are 10 to 100 times dimmer than what Hubble can see, and make scientific breakthroughs for about 5 to 10 years. It could last much longer that that, however, as the long-lived Hubble telescope has proven.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right click-to-enlarge"><div><div class="image on-image"><a title_source="NASA/WMAP" title_caption="JWST's planned location in space beyond the moon." class="zoomin" href="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/581b68a9362ca473028b6bcd-960/l2-lagrange-point-nasa-wmap-labeled.jpg"><span class="sprites click-to-enlarge-icon" title="Click to enlarge"></span></a><p class="source"><span>NASA/WMAP</span></p><p class="caption">JWST's planned location in space beyond the moon.</p></div><p></p></div></div>Yet JWST's distance from Earth - 930,000 miles away - is perhaps the most nerve-wracking part of JWST for astronomers.<p>If anything goes wrong after launch, technicians can only reprogram the spacecraft remotely, assuming they can still talk to it. There is no rocket or spacecraft capable of sending a crewed mission to fix JWST, unlike the Hubble telescope - which astronauts serviced a few times from about 500 miles above the Earth.</p><p>A repair mission would be impossible, so just one physical problem that can't be fixed with a software update could render JWST into a $8.7 billion white elephant.</p><p>We'll be wishing NASA the best of luck if it reaches this cold and lonely point in deep space, nearly a million miles away from help.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/darpa-sst-space-surveillance-telescope-space-junk-debris-monitoring-2016-11">The US military has an ultra-powerful telescope it uses to monitor junk in space</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="hpdGE2NzE6kDzyhEiDGgDTo12tu5-MR1" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

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