Hey, this has been delayed so many times that I’ve been expecting a final full punch to the dick from this at any moment. That would have been it
Guys it’s a persistent stare infrared camera. Even if they HAD left that on the lense the size of a car, it wouldn’t look like that.
I really enjoy reading this stuff. Absolutely incredible how they solved all these problems like putting the thrusters on the warm side and calculating exactly enough thrust so that the Webb stays in the right position and doesn’t fly off into deep space.
Lol jk. But yeah yeah invertebrates, sharks, alligators, crocodiles, birds, fish, and so on and so on. Instead of just saying dinosaurs as most people would think of them, especially reading a passing post, everyone should specify they’re referring exclusively to the mass extinction of prehistoric non-avian reptiles.
Acknowledging WhiskeyDelta was right. And clarifying that “dinosaurs” didn’t go extinct. But just the prehistoric non-avian reptiles. Sorry if it wasn’t as obvious as it needed to be.
So what happens when it runs out of fuel? Obviously the equipment is powered by solor, so does it just lose course out of L2 and drift off into the solar system?
Don't worry, the planet we still reside on is currently engulfed in flames. You'll get bad news soon enough.
and a helluva flex by nasa. “Due to our own genius this massive technological advancement is even better than you thought”
I listened to the star talk podcast on it and they said l it will just be non functioning in L2 until we can possibly repair / refuel it but I could be wrong
Just read some about it. L2 is not a completely stable orbit. Every 21 days it will need to do a 1-2 m/s deltaV. Once we are out of fuel it will slowly move out of L2.
From that blog https://blogs.nasa.gov/webb/2021/12...d-to-know-about-webbs-mid-course-corrections/ I think they always want to stay on the short side so that they're always pushing it away from Earth. I guess it would eventually float back toward Earth if it ran out of fuel? "One interesting aspect of the Webb launch and the Mid-Course Corrections is that we always “aim a little bit low.” The L2 point and Webb’s loose orbit around it are only semi-stable. In the radial direction (along the Sun-Earth line), there is an equilibrium point where in principle it would take no thrust to remain in position; however, that point is not stable. If Webb drifted a little bit toward Earth, it would continue (in the absence of corrective thrust) to drift ever closer; if it drifted a little bit away from Earth, it would continue to drift farther away. Webb has thrusters only on the warm, Sun-facing side of the observatory. We would not want the hot thrusters to contaminate the cold side of the observatory with unwanted heat or with rocket exhaust that could condense on the cold optics. This means the thrusters can only push Webb away from the Sun, not back toward the Sun (and Earth). We thus design the launch insertion and the MCCs to always keep us on the uphill side of the gravitational potential, we never want to go over the crest – and drift away downhill on the other side, with no ability to come back."
Child's play in comparison to the next few steps Edit: https://planet4589.org/space/misc/webb/time.html
From the NASA media teleconference JWST update this morning - Summary: 'Everything so far is looking great'! Still trying to 'get to know' Webb Two concerns over last few days, now fixed: Solar arrays were not operating as well as expected. Now corrected, everything's 'nominal', power has increased. Now, no issues with power. Sunshield motor temperatures higher than expected. Re-pointed Webb to allow motors to cool more. Now being used to tension sunshield. Observatory was never in danger Sunshield tensioning 'The next big challenge'. Today tensioning of sunshield layer 1 begins! Will take 'most of the day'. To tension all layers will take 2-3 days. Will go cautiously, don't want to burn out the team. Probably will finish on wednesday. Surprise at how well the deployment telemetry has matched expectations so far 6 motors involved in tensioning all 5 layers. Can pause at any time if issues arise. Designed to be snag-free. Expect to have smooth-sailing. Currently in the pre-activities phase, layer 1 tensioning likely to start in a few hours. When all five layers are tensioned, 70-75% of the 344 single point failures will be passed Future Probably 'by end of week', will be deploying secondary mirror. Fuel savings from near-perfect launch & burns: lifetime now 'a lot more than 10 years' (no precise lifetime length yet though)
Temperatures on the Sun/hot side of the sunshield will reach a maximum of approximately 383K or approximately 230 degrees F and on the cold mirror/instruments side of the sunshield, a minimum of approximately 36K or around -394 degrees F. Due to the engineering of the sunshield, this incredible transition takes place across a distance of approximately six feet.