James Webb Space Telescope

[Pyrite]

I watched this with my bro - so happy it went ahead without any hitches, although I was a little disappointed that it was taking place in the middle of a rainforest. Still, hope it gets properly into orbit soon!

[Kyng]

I watched this with my bro - so happy it went ahead without any hitches, although I was a little disappointed that it was taking place in the middle of a rainforest. Still, hope it gets properly into orbit soon!

Yeah, let's hope !

With regards to the location, I can understand that concern - and I hope it hasn't damaged the rainforest. Although, there are two reasons why that specific location was chosen for rocket launches:

1) It's close to the equator, so less energy is required for launches, and;
2) It has an open sea to the east, so any debris will just fall into the sea (rather than on any cities).

(Also, rockets have been launched from that site for over 50 years now - which I'm guessing means that any damage to the rainforest was already done long ago!)

[Zerg Rush]

The rockets, although they come out with a lot of roar and smoke, by themselves are not polluting when using hydrogen as fuel, the smoke therefore is mainly water vapor.
A plane that flies over the Amazon rainforest pollutes a lot more.
But thank goodness that the launch went well, I would not like to see the faces of the scientists, after a decade of JWT preparation, if the rocket had exploded

[Kyng]

Well, there's more good news. Apparently, the launch was very fuel-efficent: only two minor course corrections were required. This means it used less fuel than anticipated - and therefore, the life expectancy of the JWST has been increased beyond the initial 10 years:

https://www.cnet.com/news/james-webb-spa...nasa-says/

Let's hope it does indeed last for longer as a result of this !

[SpookyZalost]

ooh, bonus time is always fun!

doubly so if they can figure out in-situ repairs and refuel like with hubble.

still the JWST has been talked about for years, I heard scientists referring to it when I was very young as something they were hoping would help them make huge major discoveries.

the hubble is an amazing telescope but JWST was always intended to be the next next generation, the means to make greater discoveries than the hubble ever could.

[Pyrite]

I watched this with my bro - so happy it went ahead without any hitches, although I was a little disappointed that it was taking place in the middle of a rainforest. Still, hope it gets properly into orbit soon!

With regards to the location, I can understand that concern - and I hope it hasn't damaged the rainforest. Although, there are two reasons why that specific location was chosen for rocket launches:

1) It's close to the equator, so less energy is required for launches, and;
2) It has an open sea to the east, so any debris will just fall into the sea (rather than on any cities).

(Also, rockets have been launched from that site for over 50 years now - which I'm guessing means that any damage to the rainforest was already done long ago!)

 

The rockets, although they come out with a lot of roar and smoke, by themselves are not polluting when using hydrogen as fuel, the smoke therefore is mainly water vapor.
A plane that flies over the Amazon rainforest pollutes a lot more.
But thank goodness that the launch went well, I would not like to see the faces of the scientists, after a decade of JWT preparation, if the rocket had exploded

Oh to be fair my main beef with it is I don't personally like to see anything being built in the rainforests - as CJ said it's been there for a long while but it's rather a shame that they haven't built a new site to replace it in an area with a little less biodiversity.

In any case, I look forward to seeing what information can come out of James Webb, considering how much better than Hubble it is touted to be.

[Kyng]

More good news now - in that they've successfully deployed the secondary mirror:
https://www.space.com/james-webb-space-t...r-deployed


(Source: NASA / Above article)

Pleased to see that this has been going smoothly so far !

[Kyng]

They've been doing some tests, in order to make sure the mirrors are aligned correctly - and, they started by taking the following picture:


(Source: NASA)

A nice, clear image... it seems that their tests are going well !

[Kyng]

Things still appear to be going smoothly with this - and now, its Mid-Infrared Instrument has reached its operating temperature, of a cool 7K (-266ºC):

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/webb-te...emperature

Quite extreme - but then, I guess it's not too hard to maintain a temperature like that in outer space !

[Kyng]

Slightly bad news, in that the JWST was hit by a rock:

https://www.space.com/james-webb-space-t...id-impacts

This rock, though small, was still "larger than expected". Nevertheless, the telescope was built to withstand such impacts, so hopefully any damage will be minimal .