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?
I'm going to be so fucking nervous watching this launch. Fuck leaving anything this important to the French
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.
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
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.
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.
I found this Reddit comment and it really helped put this project in context for laymen such as myself
I believe Andromeda (she's an astronomer) has applied to become an astronaut and has a PhD. She knows her stuff.
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
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
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?
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?
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
It was going around 2.6 when I was looking at it yesterday, so yeah it's been slowing down considerably
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?