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Post by High Sierra Fan on Dec 22, 2021 21:35:42 GMT -8
25 years of planning, ten billions dollars all told, seeing back in time to glimpse the origins of the earliest galaxies So, no pressure. Now launching December 25th this year. Launch Date Webb's launch date is set for December 25, 2021 07:20am EST ( 2021-12-25 12:20 GMT/UTC). jwst.nasa.gov/content/about/launch.htmlI’m no morning person but there’s no way I’m missing this. Oh, and the Ingenuity helicopter on Mars is STILL flying!
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balzaccom
Trail Wise!
Waiting for spring...
Posts: 4,395
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Post by balzaccom on Dec 23, 2021 4:44:12 GMT -8
Fingers crossed. A true sci-fi moment that is turning into reality
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Travis
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WYOMING NATIVE
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Post by Travis on Dec 23, 2021 10:34:11 GMT -8
It's difficult to conceive of the mind-boggling precision that has gone into this project, all the things that "could" go wrong, and in the lengthy process of putting the telescope into the orbit planned.
About the only comfort I find in all this is that the ultimate orbit will be far above the space junk we have cluttered lower orbits with. But we might have to leave the fingers crossed for a while.
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Post by High Sierra Fan on Dec 23, 2021 14:48:33 GMT -8
One of the capabilities of the instrument is to record spectrographs of the light from a distant sun that has passed through the atmosphere of an orbiting exoplanet so it can be analyzed for signature compounds that might signal life, or industry (!).
So focusing on the very edges of a planet to catch just that film of light that’s skimmed through the atmospheric envelope, with enough detail to generate a spectrum for chemical analysis. Damn that’s amazing.
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Post by High Sierra Fan on Dec 24, 2021 20:07:16 GMT -8
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Post by High Sierra Fan on Dec 25, 2021 3:57:53 GMT -8
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Post by High Sierra Fan on Dec 25, 2021 5:29:03 GMT -8
So much like the speculation regarding the iPhone 14 and 15 (!) now rolling out after the 13 has been out a couple months I give you the next space telescope; Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope"Roman spacecraft High-resolution illustration of the Roman spacecraft against a starry background. Credits: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (formerly known as WFIRST, the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope) is a next-generation observatory that will answer pressing cosmic questions. The mission will create enormous panoramas of the universe to reveal secrets of dark energy and dark matter, discover planets outside our solar system, and address a host of other astrophysics and planetary science topics. With its ability to help solve so many cosmic mysteries, Roman will be one of the most important tools for studying the universe we’ve ever built. Roman’s gigantic field of view will enable the mission to create infrared images that are around 200 times larger than the Hubble Space Telescope can provide while revealing the same rich level of detail. The spacecraft is expected to collect far more data than any other NASA astrophysics mission before it. " www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/nancy-grace-roman-space-telescopeOne thing? they're really going to need a bigger hard drive: 20,000 terabytes of data (Hubble generated 172). www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/bdww.png
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davesenesac
Trail Wise!
Our precious life is short within eternity, don't waste it!
Posts: 1,708
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Post by davesenesac on Dec 26, 2021 10:46:24 GMT -8
Ironically, the launch, arguably the second most important space launch during our lifetime after the 1969 Apollo Moon landing launch, was not considered interesting enough to warrant major tv broadcaster live coverage.
Watched live via the Internet, the whole 4:20am PST launch on nasa.gov tv till 33 minutes later the deployment of the solar array. Then back to sleep.
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Post by Coolkat on Dec 27, 2021 7:45:19 GMT -8
20PB?? Anyone who deals with storage knows that is a lot. Especially if you're backing it up also. Impressive!!
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Post by High Sierra Fan on Dec 27, 2021 10:00:47 GMT -8
20PB?? Anyone who deals with storage knows that is a lot. Especially if you're backing it up also. Impressive!! The other aspect I hadn’t thought about beyond storage and handling is the download capacity of the data link? I’ll presume it’s got the volume needed to not get behind but I’d be curious to read for how that will work. we all know pretty pictures in the camera card slot isn’t the end of it…not that answered but a useful factcheet: jwst.nasa.gov/content/about/faqs/faq.html#sharpETA: “"This antenna will be used to send at least 28.6 Gbytes of science data down from the observatory, twice a day," NASA officials wrote in a mission update. "The team has now released and tested the motion of the antenna assembly — the entire process took about one hour."” www.space.com/james-webb-space-telescope-deploys-antenna
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Post by High Sierra Fan on Dec 27, 2021 11:09:14 GMT -8
I’d been curious about the one expendable component, it’s station keeping rocket fuel, being a mission limiter; maybe not…. From a nasa Q&A “ What are the parameters that determine the life span of JWST? Rocket propellent to reposition? etc (asked by @jguirreri) Rocket propellant is the only life span limiter for JWST. We are carrying at least 10 years supply. What about in-space refueling the telescope? Would it be possible to extend the mission lifespan this way? (asked by @hrissan) In-space refueling of #JWST? Logically possible but difficult. It would require robots!‘ Tp extend the useable life of a ten billion dollar instrument, I’d think worth the effort. And robots keep advancing. jwst.nasa.gov/content/about/faqs/tweetChat1.html
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davesenesac
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Our precious life is short within eternity, don't waste it!
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Post by davesenesac on Dec 28, 2021 11:58:49 GMT -8
NASA animated video showing each deployment stage.
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ErnieW
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I want to backpack
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Post by ErnieW on Jan 1, 2022 9:33:29 GMT -8
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Post by High Sierra Fan on Jan 1, 2022 10:58:22 GMT -8
They’ve overcome one slight glitch: a switch intended to get tripped when the sun shield covers had fully rolled up, didn’t trigger: so they used some alternate analyses to confirm that stage.
“ Our sunshield is shining bright! 💎
Yesterday, we deployed our port and starboard sunshield mid-booms, or "arms," which pull out the five layers of the sunshield. Webb's sunshield has now taken on its characteristic diamond shape.
Deploying the mid-booms took extra time, but was completed successfully. While deploying the first mid-boom, switches did not trigger to indicate the sunshield covers were rolled up, so team members used temperature data & gyroscope sensors to confirm that they had. This analysis allowed the team to move forward. Note that Webb's deployment steps are all human-controlled, so the schedule can change. Read more: go.nasa.gov/3pL07Tn
Next up: tensioning the 5 sunshield layers! We are about halfway through our unfolding sequence, and we've covered about half of the distance between Earth and our destination of the second Lagrange point (L2). Note that our speed will continue to slow as Webb needs to coast uphill climbing the gravity ridge from Earth to L2.”
Keep up with our daily updates: blogs.nasa.gov/webb Or track Webb's journey to #UnfoldTheUniverse here: webb.nasa.gov/whereiswebb
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balzaccom
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Waiting for spring...
Posts: 4,395
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Post by balzaccom on Jan 1, 2022 12:53:57 GMT -8
The most amazing part, to me, is that last set of panels---part of the mirror---that fold out and then join the main mirror sections. Remember that for the image from the telescope to be perfectly clear, the mirror surface needs to be accurately figured to within 1/4 wavelength of light. And thus those last panels need to deploy into position with that kind of accuracy in all three dimensions.
The mind boggles.
Then again, my mind boggles a lot these days.
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