OT: James Webb Space Telescope to Begin Sun Shield Tensioning After Delay
This is exciting news probably the most critical/stressful step of deployment.
https://blogs.nasa.gov/webb/2022/01/03/webb-team-moving-forward-with-sunshield-tensioning/
I’m really hoping this is a tremendous success. Okay need some new Nova’s.
January 3rd, 2022 at 1:40 PM ^
Fun stuff. Every new data point is good.
January 3rd, 2022 at 1:42 PM ^
I have been hooked on watching this website for a week. Kudos to NASA not only for the mission itself, but for also making it so exciting and fun to follow:
https://www.jwst.nasa.gov/content/webbLaunch/whereIsWebb.html
January 3rd, 2022 at 1:56 PM ^
NASA has some pretty cool tracking sites. Here's one for the two Voyagers that were launched when I was 8 years old. These things have been going for over 44 years with Pong and Mattel Electronic Football technology.
January 3rd, 2022 at 2:23 PM ^
Thank you both. I could spend all day nerding out on that Webb Telescope site. And I remember when the Voyagers were launched. I was a little kid but old enough to know about Sagan's gold record. I dreamed of what they would see, and the lives they might encounter. And they're still out there, beyond the solar system now. These are wonders of humankind...
+1s all around.
January 3rd, 2022 at 4:10 PM ^
Electronic FB was amazing. Getting Coleco’s Electronic Quarterback was my Christmas Story moment.
January 3rd, 2022 at 1:43 PM ^
Non football take: very cool. I hope this new scope is a huge success.
Football take: Any way to tap intergalactic NIL opportunities through this scope?
January 3rd, 2022 at 1:45 PM ^
In general, folk say it’s a very bad idea to broadcast our existence because the invaders always win. But if those invaders, who by this logic will be superior to humans, want to play football at Michigan, and can get through the admissions process, I’m all for it!
January 3rd, 2022 at 2:52 PM ^
Upvoted. Count me amongst those folks who think we should remain quiet. If there’s anybody/anything out there, the odds of them wanting to be pals with humanity seems quite long. But, I bet they would also at least hate tosu, so we’d have that going for us.
January 3rd, 2022 at 2:56 PM ^
there is no intelligent life to be found in ohio, so aliens might just pass it right by. or we could always pay them to do this to the toilet bowl/horseshoe...
January 3rd, 2022 at 3:20 PM ^
Brings to mind the last lines of the Monty Python ‘Galaxy’ song:
”And pray that there’s intelligent somewhere up in space, ‘cause there’s bugger-all down here on earth.”
January 3rd, 2022 at 4:10 PM ^
January 3rd, 2022 at 1:46 PM ^
This telescope project is interesting to watch. I assume that the craft is moving along to it's final destination while it unfolds. Fascinating how the team on Earth can communicate with the craft given the huge delay in communication signals. One "oh shit" on Earth can be 5+ minutes after the actual occurrence. Hopeful that there will be none.
Looking forward to the beautiful pictures!
January 3rd, 2022 at 1:48 PM ^
Yes, it’s on its way at just under .4 miles per second. About 20 days from the L2. Full deployment is about a week away. Then when it gets to L2 there is 5 months of testing before it is scheduled to start full operations.
January 3rd, 2022 at 2:17 PM ^
What happens when it gets up there and shows us the Earth is flat?
January 3rd, 2022 at 2:24 PM ^
Kirie Irving will finally be right about something
January 3rd, 2022 at 3:03 PM ^
I think it's fantastic that in addition to all of his other jobs with 247 and WTKA that Sam Webb found time to collaborate with NASA. He is truly the hardest worker in the business.
January 3rd, 2022 at 7:07 PM ^
Huh? You realize we’re talking about the James Franklin Space Telescope, right?
January 4th, 2022 at 8:49 AM ^
A friend of mine from the Navy is the flight systems team manager for the telescope. He said they delayed tensioning until today and sorted through some items yesterday, instead. They made some maneuvers to better align solar heat with the vehicle, to make it easier to get proper tension. They also optimized the power supply and went from a good power situation to a great one. Essentially, they lined up everything with actual flight performance instead of planned.
Mission control in Baltimore is very happy with the way it’s been going so far. The launch and two burns put it on such a good course to L2 orbit that they expect ~10 years of life, rather than the planned 5.
edit: my bad, 3 of the 5 sunshades are tensioned perfectly, working in the other two today. Sorry, been out of power for 24 hrs now and was a day late on my FB updates!