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James Webb is fully deployed

nasa.gov

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Re: James Webb is fully deployed

#421

Post by waiseristy »

dev_tty01 wrote: post #345
JohnBooty wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Great blog post from NASA themselves explaining it: https://blogs.nasa.gov/webb/2022/01/06/why-doesnt-webb-have-... the post is really not very long and I would suggest getting it straight from the horse's mouth, but for those not willing to devote a click here are arguably the most relevant bits! "deployment surveillance cameras would not add significant information of value for engineering teams commanding the spac…

Yes, I get all of that, but they still missed an excellent PR opportunity. NASA really could have built some engagement showing images of the deployment process, even if the images wouldn't have direct scientific benefit. Good PR leads to improved funding which leads to more science.

The excellent PR opportunity is going to be the spectacular images it produces in 3-6 months time. I have a feeling some dark grainy photos of tin foil unrolling will pale in comparison to what the device will actually product

Re: James Webb is fully deployed

#422

Post by Simon_O_Rourke »

Congratulations to the team, it's been a long road but it's satisfying to see so many folks efforts paying off.

I remember seeing a full size mock up of the JWST nearly ten years ago, and thinking it was just too big, complex and far out to succeed. But dedicated people made it happen.

Re: James Webb is fully deployed

#423

Post by baq »

tomr_stargazer wrote: post #373
willis936 wrote: post #350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually JWST orbits around L2 at appreciable altitude. The unique aspect of the orbit is that it is never in the shadow of the Earth or moon. It guarantees consistent solar power and thermal load. https://jwst-docs.stsci.edu/jwst-observatory-characteristics...

Wow. I’m an astronomer and somehow I never learned this! Thank you for the link! Of course a solar powered satellite can’t be parked in the shade. Can’t believe I never thought about that.

It can, it has batteries, but you don’t want to mess with thermals on that thing.

Re: James Webb is fully deployed

#424

Post by devenvdev »

awb wrote: post #379
mywacaday wrote: post #238

What I love about this project is that I had an active worry about its success, very few things in life inspire that kind of emotion. Well done to all involved, a true lifetime achievement. Can't wait for the images!

The cost: 23 years and $10B The benefit: “JWST’s instruments are designed to make discoveries across the spectrum of astronomy — ranging from the worlds and mini-worlds in our own solar system to alien planets circling distant stars, from the supermassive black hole at the center of our own Milky Way galaxy to the edge of the observable universe.” ( https://www.geekwire.com/2021/high-cost-high-risk-high-hopes... ) Ex…

I don't understand why is it considered extreme cost. IIRC it's around $1/us citizen/year. For example the budget for keeping us safe from ourselves is much higher.

Re: James Webb is fully deployed

#425

Post by devenvdev »

MichaelMoser123 wrote: post #381
abadger9 wrote: post #380

Earlier quoted context omitted.

i'm sure they might when the light reaches them, given the context of planets in our neighborhood, probably in a few hundred/thousand years?

not if they know how to bend it ;-) I was told that even the speed of light is hackable!

For some light speed hacking porn I'd recommend reading Cixin Liu's In Remembrance of Earth trilogy. It has a few deus ex machina moments but overall it's just pure fun.

Re: James Webb is fully deployed

#426

Post by rmk »

How does this compare to the 'man on the moon' projects of China? It appears that from a purely scientific standpoint, this telescope will have a bigger impact than those of other space programs. Is my thinking on the right track here?

Also, is this complementary in function (and mission) to the Hubble? It appears to me that the spectrum is split up between Hubble and James Webb.

As an aside, it is interesting that the telescope is named in honor of a Lawyer turned administrator of NASA, James Webb (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_E._Webb). He must have been very capable indeed (or perhaps had the talent of attaching himself to very successful programs) because he was tapped by Kennedy to lead NASA at a time when the space race was at its peak. What's also weird is that James Webb worked as an administrator in all sorts of Government departments before being tapped to run NASA.

Re: James Webb is fully deployed

#427

Post by trembonator »

daveslash wrote: post #204
jl6 wrote: post #192

More great news. Congratulations to all who have worked on the project. I understand the reasons for not putting a camera on or near the JWST, but I’m still a little sad that we’ll probably never get to see the thing in situ in all its operational glory. Maybe one day when it finally expires, we can launch a “sample return” mission to tow it back.

RE>> "I understand the reasons for not putting a camera on or near the JWST" What are the reasons? I'm sorry ~ I'm ignorant on the topic, but I'd love to learn more. Why/what are the reasons?

No post body was provided.

Re: James Webb is fully deployed

#428

Post by FlyingSnake »

rmk wrote: post #426

How does this compare to the 'man on the moon' projects of China? It appears that from a purely scientific standpoint, this telescope will have a bigger impact than those of other space programs. Is my thinking on the right track here? Also, is this complementary in function (and mission) to the Hubble? It appears to me that the spectrum is split up between Hubble and James Webb. As an aside, it is interesting that t…

> How does this compare to the 'man on the moon' projects of China?

I don’t think space research has to be a zero sum game with one prescribed approach. The nature of research is that we need a multiple pronged approach into the unknown. If CNSA wants to pursue ‘Man on the Moon’ or JAXA wants to study asteroids, I see this as a win for humanity.

Re: James Webb is fully deployed

#429

Post by WalterBright »

kragen wrote: post #220
WalterBright wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> huge costs in subsequent runs Often that's because they have to rebuild and reset the tooling. Within the run, though, the incremental cost should be minimal. The huge costs may be huge, but not huge compared to the cost of the prototype.

A lot of times when you make one of something, there's stuff you would make tooling for if you were going to do more than one, but which instead you do by hand. Sometimes this is even true in software, but not very often, because the advantages of being able to recompile something from source code are so huge.

Even when doing things by hand, making a duplicate alongside the original is not much more time. That happens to me every time I do something by hand.

Re: James Webb is fully deployed

#430

Post by russellbeattie »

dreamcompiler wrote: post #417
ryanSrich wrote: post #414

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How so? What technology specifically would give the JWST an advantage in discovering new life? Genuinely curious.

1. Its resolution might be high enough to image [big] surface features on exoplanets, and alien megastructures if they exist[0]. 2. JWST has extraordinary spectral analysis capabilities and it should be able to characterise gases in extrasolar planetary atmospheres [1]. [0] https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/telescopes/a19346/jam... [1] https://www.jwst.nasa.gov/content/science/origins.html

Heh. Can you imagine the world-wide debate over whether or not we should reach out to the alien intelligence?

Apparently, SETI's policy is to NOT respond. Which makes sense to me.

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