Jwst Telescope Launch

[Michael Weber]

Watched the James Webb Space Telescope’s perfect launch and separation this morning. Here’s hoping for the continued successful completion of it’s very complex full deployment to the L2 position over the next several weeks. I’m unable to even comprehend the science, planning and engineering it took over twenty years to get to this point. There are some smart folks in this world. The golden mirror unfolded https://www.google.com/search?q=jwst...SJMgv5yey48-PM

[Frederick Skelly]

Good news! Go baby go!

[Jim Koepke]

When this was seen in the list my first thought was, "Jesus Would Sing Tenor."

Merry Christmas,

jtk

[Tom M King]

My best friend has spent his lifetime developing infrared detectors for NASA. He was the lead scientist for the detectors. I visited when they were assembling it in the 100' cube clean room. There is a big viewing window in the lobby. A camera back from Hubble was just sitting out in the hall, waiting for the Smithsonian to find a place to put it.

[Richard Hart]

Big time rocket geek since Mercury... this totally blows my mind! The idea of seeing what amounts to the beginning of time? Can't wrap my mind around that.
Of course I watched the launch... Ariane 5 gets outta Dodge fast!
God only (I'm sure He does) knows what's gonna be found. Can't wait..

[Roger Feeley]

I would love to see a real time simulation of what the jwst is doing “right now”. I would also love to see a checklist of the thousands of things that must go right.

[Jim Koepke]

First Image from James Webb Telescope.png



jtk

- sorry couldn't resist

[Michael Weber]

First Image from James Webb Telescope.png
.



jtk

- sorry couldn't resist

lol’ed remembering the flaw with Hubble. Interesting stuff here https://www.space.com/james-webb-spa...loyment-begins and there is a real time update of its progress on Utube from “The exoplanets channel. It’s about half way to L2 point clipping along at about 2800 Kph and unfolding the critical sun screen has begun. I have read that there are over a hundred points of possible failure in that maneuver alone.

[John K Jordan]

I would love to see a real time simulation of what the jwst is doing “right now”. I would also love to see a checklist of the thousands of things that must go right.

I've been following this page:

https://webb.nasa.gov/

Specifically, the Where is Webb link: https://webb.nasa.gov/content/webbLa...ereIsWebb.html
Scroll down for simulations of the most recently completed step. The Full Deployment animation shows what's happening at key times and dates.

The News link can be good to check too.

I learned more specifics about the Lagrange points 1,2,3,4&5 with this launch than I had in the past the Wikipedia article might be good:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lagrange_point
Fascinating how many things have been sent to Sun-Earth L2. I never realized something could be put into a useful orbit around L2.

JKJ

[Tom M King]

The Hubble problems were not due to dumb mistakes, or scientists. It was due to Managers pushing sticking to a budget, and deadlines. The Scientists knew chances were not great, especially when testing is cut short.

This time, they took what time they needed, and spent more money than the managers and politicians wanted to spend.

When deciding what to do about fixing the Hubble, my friend took in a 12-1/2" mirror that he and I had hand ground when we were teenagers. It was better than what they had. He got put on the team that developed the fix.

Chances are a Lot better this time, even for a more complicated instrument.

[Jack Frederick]

thanks for the leads on info on this. Tom, I sure hoe you are right on the chances. I haven’t been following this closely, but have certainly kept my fingers crossed. I clearly remember my disappointment when the Hubble flubbed. turned out to be a great instrument, but much angst in the process. I’m just reading “Flying Blind” the story of Boeing and the 737 Max. It reads very much like Toms, “It was due to Managers pushing and sticking to a budget and deadlines.”

[mike stenson]

In every product I've been involved with that have had problems upon release, those problems were the results of management focusing on delivery time and budget. Without exception. We also knew, every time, that there would be issues.

[John K Jordan]

I see the telescope is rapidly approaching 50% of the distance to L2.

FEF68CE5-39C3-462A-9E48-A2CD42CF1400.jpg

[John K Jordan]

For those interested in such things this video is pretty good at describing the steps from launch to fully deployed. It's about 19 minutes.

.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeiQEG450gc

[Myk Rian]

The Hubble problems were not due to dumb mistakes, or scientists. It was due to Managers pushing sticking to a budget, and deadlines. The Scientists knew chances were not great, especially when testing is cut short.

This time, they took what time they needed, and spent more money than the managers and politicians wanted to spend.

When deciding what to do about fixing the Hubble, my friend took in a 12-1/2" mirror that he and I had hand ground when we were teenagers. It was better than what they had. He got put on the team that developed the fix.

Chances are a Lot better this time, even for a more complicated instrument.

Perkin-Elmer sent it out before the final inspection was done. You know, cut costs.

I'm fascinated by JWST and the engineering that went into it. But $10B? Wow.
It was amazing when Hubbel discovered thousands of galaxies, in what was thought to be just a black area. It took 2, 40 day streams of the area for image processing to begin.

Astronomy is another hobby of mine. I have scopes from backpack size, to a 13.1" Newtonian reflector.
Lets hope the first picture, posted in TFSL forum isn't true.
https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread....86#post3164386