James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which is successor observatory to Hubble, is expected to launch on December 18, according to a BBC report. After countless targeted lift-offs, the $10 billion successor observatory to Hubble is now actually built.

What is left is JWST’s shipping to French Guiana, put it on the top of an Ariane rocket, light the engines and stand well back.

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Professor Gillian Wright, senior UK scientist on Webb who co-leads one of the telescope’s four instrument packages, said the news of launch date is fantastic for everybody and will give a boost to all those who worked on the project.

The new observatory is a venture between the US, Europe and Canada.

Recent concerns about the readiness of the Ariane rocket to perform its most important mission of the year have been assuaged. The parts that make up that vehicle have themselves just arrived at the Kourou launch site.

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A detailed timeline is needed to bring multiple elements together so that the final countdown can proceed as planned in mid-December.

The telescope will be shipped via sea from its construction base at Northrop Grumman in California. This involves a trip through the Panama Canal. There is not much information about the voyage so as not to attract the attention of pirates.

After reaching French Guiana, the telescope will go through a last series of checks.

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Before lifting it to the top of the integrated Ariane, the telescope will need to be fuelled.

A dress rehearsals of the roll-out will be held on December 16.

JWST is as big as a tennis court and it has to be folded to fit inside the clam-shell-shaped, protective fairing at the head of the rocket.

It is gold-plated and has 6.5m-wide primary mirror. It will look deeper into the cosmos than ever before. Indeed, the hope is it will detect some of the very first stars and galaxies to shine.