Space Never Fails to Blow My Mind, 2nd Edition

Discussion in 'The Mainboard' started by Bruce Wayne, Apr 13, 2015.

  1. southlick

    southlick "Better Than You"
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  2. TableKnight

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    Will it perform any diagnostics before the journey to Lagrange point 2, or do we have to wait 6 months or so on pins and needles?
     
  3. One Knight

    One Knight https://www.twitch.tv/thatrescueguy
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    I'm going to be so fucking nervous watching this launch.
    Fuck leaving anything this important to the French
     
  4. southlick

    southlick "Better Than You"
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  5. The Banks

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    We need some Vegas odds on this thing working
     
  6. Shawn Hunter

    Shawn Hunter Vote Corey Matthews for Congress
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    Imagine working for NASA if they go to launch on Christmas Day and it fails.
     
  7. Joe Withabee

    Joe Withabee PS I have sifulus
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    1ST HOUR: Starting at liftoff, the Ariane rocket will provide thrust for a little over 8 minutes. Webb will separate from the Ariane V launch vehicle a half hour after launch and we will deploy the solar array immediately afterward. We will also release several systems that were locked for launch.

    1ST DAY: Two hours after launch we will deploy the high gain antenna. Twelve hours after launch there will be the first trajectory correction maneuver by small rocket engines aboard Webb itself.

    1ST WEEK: The second trajectory correction maneuver will take place at 2.5 days after launch, shortly after crossing the Moon's trajectory. We will start the sequence of major deployment just after that. The first deployments are the fore and aft sunshield pallets, followed by the release of remaining sub-system launch locks. The next deployment is the telescope in which the telescope and the spacecraft bus move apart from each other by about 2 meters when the deployable tower assembly extends. The full sunshield deployment with unfolding and tensioning of the membranes can then be initiated. At 6 days we deploy the secondary mirror, followed by the side wings of the primary mirror.

    1ST MONTH: As the telescope cools down in the shade of the deployed sunshield, we will turn on the warm electronics and initialize the flight software. At the end of the first month, we will do the mid-course correction that ensures that Webb will achieve its final orbit around L2. Although the telescope cools to near its operating temperature, the Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM) is warmed with electric heaters to prevent condensation on the instruments as residual water trapped in the materials making up the observatory escapes to the vacuum of space.

    2ND MONTH: At 33 days after launch we will turn on and operate the Fine Guidance Sensor, then NIRCam and NIRSpec. The first NIRCam image will be of a crowded star field to make sure that light gets through the telescope into the instruments. Since the primary mirror segments will not yet be aligned, the picture will still be out of focus. At 44 days after launch we will begin the process of adjusting the primary mirror segments, first identifying each mirror segment with its image of a star in the camera. We will also focus the secondary mirror.

    3RD MONTH: From 60 to 90 days after launch we will align the primary mirror segments so that they can work together as a single optical surface. We will also turn on and operate the MIRI. By the end of the third month we will be able to take the first science-quality images. Also by this time, Webb will complete its initial orbit around L2.

    4TH – 6TH MONTHS: At about 85 days after launch we will have completed the optimization of the telescope image in the NIRCam. Over the next month and a half we will optimize the image for the other instruments. We will test and calibrate all of the instrument capabilities by observing representative science targets.

    AFTER 6 MONTHS: Webb will begin its science mission and start to conduct routine science operations.
     
  8. southlick

    southlick "Better Than You"
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  9. southlick

    southlick "Better Than You"
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  10. southlick

    southlick "Better Than You"
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  11. southlick

    southlick "Better Than You"
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  12. southlick

    southlick "Better Than You"
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    Goddamn clouds
     
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  13. southlick

    southlick "Better Than You"
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    I miss those SpaceX cameras
     
  14. Fargin' Icehole

    Fargin' Icehole 50% soulless
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    Pretty surprised it actually launched with no other delays. Awesome.
     
  15. southlick

    southlick "Better Than You"
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  16. WhiskeyDelta

    WhiskeyDelta Well-Known Member
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  17. southlick

    southlick "Better Than You"
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  18. TableKnight

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    Perfect launch! And we have power!
     
  19. southlick

    southlick "Better Than You"
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    I thought something bad happened for a second there.

    Whew
     
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  20. WhiskeyDelta

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    Seeing that panel deploy was awesome
     
  21. southlick

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  22. CUAngler

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  23. JohnLocke

    JohnLocke Terminally Chill
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    This thread has been waiting on this forever. So excited to see that it was a success...would have been one of the worst disasters if it hadn't. Now go tell us the composition of the atmospheres around all these exoplanets
     
  24. Popovio

    Popovio The poster formerly known as "MouseCop"
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    That's a great way to start Christmas Day. Never thought I'd actually see it launch. I can't imagine the things we're gonna learn from this project.
     
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  25. TableKnight

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  26. Illinihockey

    Illinihockey Well-Known Member
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    So where does this land in the most important space missions ever?
     
  27. WhiskeyDelta

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  28. The Banks

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  29. Emma

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    It's one of the most complicated scientific endeavors that humans have attempted.

    Of the many things, it represents advancements in spacecraft technologies and capabilities, its use of infrared gives us new eyes into the universe, it will drastically improve the study of small and large scale structures, and it will give us a better understanding of exoplanet atmospheres in and outside of our solar system and neighborhood.

    It's most assuredly another Apollo moment that the general public doesn't quite have an understanding of, much like Hubble. The JWST is a flagship space mission that has the potential to fundamentally alter our understanding of the universe.
     
  30. David Puddy

    David Puddy Yeah that's right
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    I found this Reddit comment and it really helped put this project in context for laymen such as myself

     
  31. TableKnight

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    Didn't realize we have to refuel in 10 years.

    That's an interesting science problem
     
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  32. Emma

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    I believe Andromeda (she's an astronomer) has applied to become an astronaut and has a PhD. She knows her stuff.
     
    #3334 Emma, Dec 25, 2021
    Last edited: Dec 25, 2021
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  33. Emma

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    Upkeep and servicing on the Hubble has been done manually by astronauts since 1990. It's a short 350 miles above us and something like 5-6 missions have been completed.

    Servicing the JWST is among the upmost interest and importance for NASA, the CSA and the ESA. They have plans on the docket to service it via robots etc as it will orbit the second Lagrange point (L2), which is roughly 1,000,000 miles
     
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  34. beerme

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    It is, but it’s not immediately clear that we’ll even attempt it. As I’ve read right now we’ve been able to find planets orbiting other stars, and we have basic data like mass, speed, orbit, but we don’t know much about the planets. This will get us closer and deeper infotmation, but in terms of composition it’s not going to be able to tell us enough about atmospheres to discover life (I.e. it won’t find oxygen). In the search for life this is more of a table setter. Learning about the formation of stars/galaxies is more towards what this is about
     
  35. beerme

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    My mind is always blown thinking conceptually about how they are looking back to the beginning of the universe. I get light has speed so it’s a function of having a telescope powerful enough to see the distance that it took light to travel 14 billion years…. And that it’s red shifted so you have to look in the right part of the spectrum… but which way do you look? the big bang started as a singularity, but space itself expanded? So there’s no single point to see at this monent in time?
     
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  36. Kirk Fogg

    Kirk Fogg "Tell them what they've won Olmec!"
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    Id guess they track movement like it is a ripple in water? See where objects are moving from and look in the direction from which they came?
     
  37. The Banks

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  38. beerme

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    180k miles would be 20% but that is a terrible graphic on the bottom. I also find it hard to believe they got 20% of the way there in 1 day - it’s 4 times further than the moon
     
  39. Henry Blake

    Henry Blake No Springsteen is leaving this house!
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    iirc it will slow down considerably after (or around) hitting the 25% mark.
     
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  40. Kirk Fogg

    Kirk Fogg "Tell them what they've won Olmec!"
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    It’s gone from 1.25 mi/s to ~.9mi/s, so slowing down makes sense
     
  41. Henry Blake

    Henry Blake No Springsteen is leaving this house!
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  42. southlick

    southlick "Better Than You"
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  43. CUAngler

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    just stunting all over my ATT cable from 1,000,000 miles out
     
  44. El_Pato

    El_Pato Nunca Caminaras Solo
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    It was going around 2.6 when I was looking at it yesterday, so yeah it's been slowing down considerably
     
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  45. beerme

    beerme Well-Known Member
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    Maybe it’s 20% or the way but the bottom scale was how much time it will take to reach L2. Also how is it slowing down? Are they firing reverse thrust or something? It’s out of earths grab by now no?
     
  46. WhiskeyDelta

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    It’s on a sustainer engine now and not trying to escape, so earths gravity well is slowing it down.