As of December 2021, the launch (designated Ariane flight VA256) is scheduled for no earlier than 25 December 2021 on an Ariane 5 launch vehicle from the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana. The observatory attaches to the Ariane 5 launch vehicle via a launch vehicle adapter ring which could be used by a future spacecraft to grapple the observatory to attempt to fix gross deployment problems. However, the telescope itself is not serviceable, and astronauts would not be able to perform tasks such as swapping instruments, as with the Hubble Telescope.
The telescope's nominal mission time is five years, with a goal of ten years. The planned five-year science mission begins after a 6-month commissioning phase. JWST needs to use propellant to maintain its halo orbit around L2, which provides an upper limit to its designed lifetime, and it is being designed to carry enough for ten years. An L2 orbit is unstable, so it requires orbital station-keeping, or the telescope will drift away from this orbital configuration.
Ut-oh. You just ruined outer space xmas for me, thanks a lot.
This is new and improved?
Sorry about that.
Eamus Catuli~AC 000000000101010202020303010304 020405....Ahhhh, forget it, it's gonna be a while.
In one of my many student work-study positions, I worked with X-ray astronomers in a university space science lab. Even got ack (technical assistance) on one of their published papers. I guess they liked me; they wanted me to stay on and work for free or something. I had to decline that for financial reasons (and on the advice of the college financial aid office). Now I'm wondering if perhaps I should have sucked it in and stayed. However it was around 1973 and the space program was in free-fall, as I recall. I only mention this to express my sympathy for these pros who are trying to unravel the secrets of the universe. I'm wondering what the Ariane scope does that the Hubble doesn't, besides being unrepairable...?
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a space telescope jointly developed by NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). It is planned to succeed the Hubble Space Telescope as NASA's flagship astrophysics mission. JWST is scheduled to be launched no earlier than 25 December 2021 during Ariane flight VA256. It will provide improved infrared resolution and sensitivity over Hubble, and will enable a broad range of investigations across the fields of astronomy and cosmology, including observing some of the most distant events and objects in the universe, such as the formation of the first galaxies, and detailed atmospheric characterization of potentially habitable exoplanets....
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a space telescope jointly developed by NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). It is planned to succeed the Hubble Space Telescope as NASA's flagship astrophysics mission. JWST is scheduled to be launched no earlier than 25 December 2021 during Ariane flight VA256. It will provide improved infrared resolution and sensitivity over Hubble, and will enable a broad range of investigations across the fields of astronomy and cosmology, including observing some of the most distant events and objects in the universe, such as the formation of the first galaxies, and detailed atmospheric characterization of potentially habitable exoplanets....
Thanks for info, again. Certainly I've heard of the James Webb scope, it sounds great.
Can you please do everyone a favor, though?
Please try not to be so nasty when you provide information. Phrases like "pay attention" are quite unfriendly and indicate a rancorous, rather than a helpful, attitude.
Thanks for info, again. Certainly I've heard of the James Webb scope, it sounds great.
Can you please do everyone a favor, though?
Please try not to be so nasty when you provide information. Phrases like "pay attention" are quite unfriendly and indicate a rancorous, rather than a helpful, attitude.
Given that you don't have the respect for us to read a tangent - my tangent-starting post and GoCubsGo' full quote of my post - before wasting our time by sharing your ignorance, something you routinely do, you are not deserving of a respectful response. Grow up and own your poor choices for once.
Thanks for info, again. Certainly I've heard of the James Webb scope, it sounds great.
Can you please do everyone a favor, though?
Please try not to be so nasty when you provide information. Phrases like "pay attention" are quite unfriendly and indicate a rancorous, rather than a helpful, attitude.
Given that you don't have the respect for us to read a tangent - my tangent-starting post and GoCubsGo' full quote of my post - before wasting our time by sharing your ignorance, something you routinely do, you are not deserving of a respectful response. Grow up and own your poor choices for once.
Well, nobody could say I havn't tried to be nice to Vrede.
... Weighing a mere 13,700 pounds, the giant, next-generation telescope, which is named after a former NASA administrator, will take 29 days to reach its destination and complete a complex unfolding procedure. Months of calibration will follow before the telescope can begin taking photos of the early universe.
The telescope will orbit Earth’s second Lagrange point, which is nearly 1 million miles from Earth or four times farther into space than the moon. There, the satellite can be balanced by the gravity of the Earth and sun.
This destination is too far away to be repaired or serviced by astronauts if something goes wrong. Still, NASA believes the risk of failure is low, even with the satellite's hundreds of potential failure points while unfolding. The space telescope has taken over 30 years to develop at a cost of around $10 billion.
Webb will be able to view a larger swath of the infrared spectrum than the Hubble space telescope, launched in 1990, is able to observe.
This difference allows Webb to see older light than Hubble, photograph the first stars created after the Big Bang and see stars hidden behind clouds of space dust and gases.
Webb features many scientific advancements, including a 5-layer sun shield — teach the size of a tennis court yet as thin as a human hair — to ensure the sun’s infrared light (or heat) doesn’t affect the infrared light being observed from the distant universe.
The delicate operation of observing infrared light from more than 170 billion years ago requires a first-of-its-kind infrared sensor refrigerator, which NASA calls a cryocooler, to be kept extremely cold — like -448 degrees fahrenheit cold, or just 12 degrees above the coldest possible point of matter called “absolute zero.” The cold helps the telescope’s scientific instruments suppress infrared background "noise," according to NASA....
... The comet can be seen at night about an hour after sunset above the southwestern horizon. Experts are saying to use Venus as a guide to help you find the comet. NASA says you may need binoculars to spot it....
I can see Venus, but not Leonard. Maybe haze or city lights.
It's done. The biggest astronomical mirror ever sent into space is assembled and ready for focusing.
The golden reflector, the centrepiece of the new James Webb telescope, was straightened out on Saturday into its full, 6.5m-wide, concave shape.
The mirror had been folded like a drop-leaf table for the mission's Christmas Day launch....
The subsequent unwrapping over the past fortnight has had everyone holding their breath. But the complex series of deployments, which included the unfurling of a tennis-court-sized sun shield, passed off with no drama....
Usually it's the launch that's the most nail-biting part of a mission but the last two weeks have been even more nerve-wracking. Unfolding a telescope of such colossal proportions has been one of the most challenging deployments ever attempted in space....
The real proof of the observatory's power though won't come until this summer when the first images are captured and beamed back to Earth. And expectations are sky-high - the views should not only be spectacular but they could also answer some of the biggest questions - like how did our Universe begin and does life exist beyond the Earth? ...
It's an Ariane rocket, not an "Ariane scope", and:
)
Maybe haze or city lights.
