Jimmy Webb Telescope Launched Without A Problem

Thread Starter

MrAl

Joined Jun 17, 2014
11,396
This morning the James Webb telescope launched without any problems. It is now heading toward that one special Lagrange point in space. I bet there are a million people wiping their brow in relief, however there are hundreds of other operations that have to go perfectly smooth for it to be a success.

A few interesting facts about this incredible project.

The fuel along weighs in at over 350 tons, takes almost 2 hours to fuel up.
Later in the journey the thrusters have to fire at just the right moment or the rocket will keep going forever out into deep space where we will never see or hear of it again.
The mirrors have been designed to be warped on Earth meaning any images from them from Earth would be completely blurry. When they get into the correct position, the minus 280 degrees environment will warp them into perfect mirros that will provide sharp images.
As of yet, there is no way to repair or correct any part of the telescope unless it can be done in software. No corrective camera would be possible this time.
The solar shields are as big as a football field, paper thin, and have to unfold perfectly or else the mirrors will be too warm to warp into the correct shape.
The mirrors were tested in Texas some time ago, and during that test there was a hurricane. They had to put out pans to catch the water leaking though the ceiling, and had to sleep there at the test site. The mirrors were put into a vacuum chamber and luckily that did not get affected by the weather.
It's been an incredible 20 year journey, some people working on it for 30 years, and it's not over yet. It's going to take 6 months before the entire unfolding and testing is completed so we wont get any images for at least that time.

So still a long way to go, but the launch was the most feared part as that seems to be the most risky.

Happy exoplanet/black hole/big bang hunting NASA :)

Oh, and Merry Christmas everyone.
 

nsaspook

Joined Aug 27, 2009
13,086
https://newsconcerns.com/why-nasas-...will-orbit-nearly-1-million-miles-from-earth/
Lagrange points are gravitationally stable spots where spacecraft can more or less “park,” maintaining the same relative position without expending much fuel. But Webb isn’t going to L2 for propellant conservation. It’s going there to stay cool.

Webb is optimized to view the universe in infrared (IR) light, long wavelengths that we feel as heat. (Hubble, by contrast, views mainly in visible and ultraviolet wavelengths). To pick up the faintest IR signals, Webb’s scientific instruments must stay incredibly frosty. So the observatory sports a five-layer sunshield that will be about as big as a tennis court when it’s fully unfurled.

But the sunshield won’t provide the requisite protection if it’s facing away from the sun. And that’s where L2 comes in.

“What is special about this orbit is that it lets the telescope stay in line with the Earth as it moves around the sun,” NASA officials wrote in an L2 explainer.

“This allows the satellite’s large sunshield to protect the telescope from the light and heat of the sun and Earth (and moon),” they added. “This is why the telescope will be out at the second Lagrange point.”

If all goes according to plan, Webb’s instruments will operate at around minus 370 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 225 degrees Celsius). Meanwhile, temperatures on the telescope’s hot side —where Webb’s solar panels, communications antenna and other non-scientific gear are located — will hover around 185 degrees Fahrenheit (88 degrees C).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagrange_point
Lagrangian_points_equipotential.gif
 
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Thread Starter

MrAl

Joined Jun 17, 2014
11,396
Hello,

NASA made a website where you can follow the James Webb on its trip:
https://www.jwst.nasa.gov/content/webbLaunch/whereIsWebb.html

Bertus
Hey that's a pretty cool web site. It appears to have completed 25 percent of it's journey distance already at the time of this posting. Going about 3000 miles per hour, yikes! ha ha.
That was a great idea by NASA.

So i guess pretty soon we should be able to look right into God's livingroom :)
 

atferrari

Joined Jan 6, 2004
4,764
Hey that's a pretty cool web site. It appears to have completed 25 percent of it's journey distance already at the time of this posting. Going about 3000 miles per hour, yikes! ha ha.
That was a great idea by NASA.

So i guess pretty soon we should be able to look right into God's livingroom :)
I am afraid the nobody even knows where is it.
 

Alec_t

Joined Sep 17, 2013
14,280
It was interesting to note the drop in temperature on the cold side of the sunshield once deployment had started, proving the shield's effectiveness.
 

nsaspook

Joined Aug 27, 2009
13,086
https://www.space.com/james-webb-space-telescope-fully-deployed
1641702403145.png
Astronomers and space fans around the world can breathe a sigh of relief: The James Webb Space Telescope is now fully deployed.

The $10 billion NASA observatory unfolded the second "wing" of its massive primary mirror today (Jan. 8), bringing the light-collecting structure up to its full size and marking the end of the mission's long, risky and ultra-complex deployment phase.

As the final mirror segment folded in place just before 10:30 a.m. EST (1530 GMT). Just under three hours later, at 1:17 p.m. EST (1817 GMT), the mirror was locked into place as cheers and high-fives erupted at its mission control center in Baltimore, Maryland.
 

DaviBrons

Joined Jan 18, 2022
5
I hope that all plans of scientists will come true. JWST can become a huge step in space discovery. Hope that 9.8 billion were not just threw to the trash. It is the most expensive telescope in the history of mankind. Fine Guidance Sensors/Near Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph and all other kits of course cost these money.
 

nsaspook

Joined Aug 27, 2009
13,086
https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2022/01/jwst-arrives-at-l2/

Webb arrives in orbit of L2, teams look ahead to five months of commissioning

The joint NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has successfully inserted itself into its orbit at the Earth-Sun Lagrange Point 2 (L2), doing so at 2:05 pm EST (19:05 UTC) on January 24, 2022. The insertion into L2 orbit signifies the end of the observatory’s immensely complex deployment process and the beginning of the telescope’s commissioning activities.

The orbit insertion maneuver began at 2pm EST (19:00 UTC), lasted for five minutes, and added 1.6 meters per second velocity to Webb to send it into its proper orbit.



Before the insertion, which occurred at T+29 days from launch, JWST had to perform a series of complex deployments to get into its final configuration for deep space observations. The entire deployment sequence consisted of 344 unfolds, which saw the observatory unfurl from its launch position. Of those unfolds, 307 (87%) were single-point failure areas — meaning if any of those 307 unfolds had failed, the entire mission would be lost.

But every single one of those 344 highly complex unfolds worked. Additionally, the completion of JWST’s L2 insertion burn marked the end of the telescope’s mid-course correction burns — all three of which were completed successfully.

JWST’s journey to L2 began on December 25, 2021, when the observatory launched atop an Arianespace Ariane 5 rocket from pad ELA-3 at the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana. JWST separated from the Ariane 5 upper stage at T+27 minutes on a trajectory to L2.

The trajectory Ariane 5 placed James Webb on was accurate enough to minimize the amount of fuel the observatory needed for its trip to L2, allowing JWST to have enough fuel for around 20 years — 10 years more than originally expected — of scientific operations.
 
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