It will also be able to see infrared light, which is invisible to the human eye. The JWST has a 6.5-meter mirror, which will give it 10 times the resolution of the Hubble telescope. It was scheduled to launch in 2021 and will replace the Hubble telescope as our most powerful space telescope. The James Webb Space Telescope launch date is the next big thing in astronomy. Follow us on Twitter Spacedotcom and on Facebook. "It's the stuff of dreams."Įmail Meghan Bartels at or follow her on Twitter meghanbartels. "The James Webb Space Telescope is an Apollo moment for all of NASA, for the entire world, but especially for our science programs worldwide," Zurbuchen said. We do them one at a time make sure things are working correctly."Īnd the observatory, NASA personnel emphasized, is worth the angst. "With the exception of the first couple of deployments right after spacecraft separation, all of our deployments are human controlled. "The whole deployment process is very much human-controlled," Amber Straughn, Webb deputy project scientist for communications at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland said during the news conference. However, where a Mars landing is fully programmed in advance, unfolds in just a few minutes and must be executed without interference from Earth, most of JWST's deployment is a dynamic process that mission personnel can adjust as needed. James Webb Space Telescope secured atop rocket for launch (photos) The engineering behind a 'first light machine' that is not allowed to fail James Webb Space Telescope looks squeaky clean for December launch "If you look at that metric, landing on Mars has roughly a third of the single-point failures than deploying the telescope fully." "There's many different ways of looking at complexity, but one way to look at it is through single-point failures that need to work," Zurbuchen said. The delicate deployment procedure includes more than 300 steps that must work perfectly for the telescope to eventually begin operations. Launch is only the first step, one that begins a monthlong process of unfolding the intricate telescope as it treks out to a point called L2 on the opposite side of Earth as the sun. "Then it increases exponentially with the rocket - and I'm looking forward to that."įor the mission team, the stress isn't necessarily going to disappear after blast-off. "My stress is generally low and that's the case now, and it actually gets less as we get to the pad," he said. If the launch attempt on Saturday is called off, opportunities continue through the end of the year.ĭespite the magnitude of the launch, Greg Robinson, Webb program director at NASA, echoed Zurbuchen's assertion that the team can sleep through the night without worries. JWST will ride an Ariane 5 rocket operated by Arianespace, which could not offer a detailed weather forecast but said the only issue the team was monitoring was high-altitude winds. ![]() EST (1100 GMT) here at courtesy of NASA, or you can watch it directly at NASA TV. The observatory is set to blast off on Saturday (Dec. "Webb is going to take the blinders off and show us the formation of the universe." "It's as though we have always been living with blinders," NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy said during the news conference. "As with most extraordinary projects that are transformative, there've been some speed bumps, there've been some setbacks along the way," he said.īut the agency remains committed to the scientific potential that JWST offers with its sharp infrared vision. Nelson acknowledged the telescope's rocky path. We've always known that this project would be a risky endeavor, but of course, when you want a big reward, you have to usually take a big risk." "It's a shining example of what we can accomplish when we dream big. "This is an extraordinary mission," Nelson said. ![]() Work on JWST, which also includes the European and Canadian space agencies, began in 1996 targeting a 2007 launch 14 years later, the observatory finally got the all-clear for blast-off during a launch readiness review held on Tuesday, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said during the news conference. "Rigorous testing has given us the ability to sit here and basically know, 'Hey, we've done the work that it takes for us to get to launch.'" Zurbuchen said that he's confident in the team's decision to proceed to the launch pad. "The testing that has occured is what gives us the calm, that's why we're sleeping." "It really is a level of complexity that's over and above," Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, said during the news conference.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |