Tag: James Webb Space Telescope
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NASA flight controllers shelter in place during storm
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION File photo of the International Space Station flight control room in Houston. Credit: NASA Flight controllers and other essential personnel at NASA’s Johnson Space Center just south of Houston are sheltering in place, maintaining contact with the International Space Station during torrential rain and flooding across south Texas…
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James Webb Space Telescope shipped to Texas for its biggest test yet
The primary mirror of the James Webb Space Telescope pictured at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Credit: NASA/Chris Gunn The centerpiece of the James Webb Space Telescope has arrived at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston for a three-month test to ensure the observatory’s sensors and gold-coated mirrors work in the frigid…
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NASA resumes JWST vibration testing
A clean tent is lowered over the James Webb Space Telescope, with its wings folded back in launch configuration, before the start of vibration testing in November. Credit: NASA/Chris Gunn Vibration testing on the James Webb Space Telescope, the multibillion-dollar successor to Hubble, has resumed after engineers traced a problem that cropped up last month…
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Engineers examine unexpected readings from JWST shake test
The James Webb Space Telescope’s primary mirror, composed of 18 individual segments, is seen inside a clean room at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center earlier this year. Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center NASA says engineers are diagnosing the source of “anomalous readings” during a recent vibration test of the sensitive optics and sensors at the…
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NASA shows off the James Webb Space Telescope and says it’s ready for testing
Engineers conduct a white-light inspection on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope in the clean room at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. (Credit: Chris Gunn / NASA) After years of busted budgets and stretched timelines, NASA says its $8.8 billion James Webb Space Telescope is ready for testing and on track for launch…
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How to do a reality check on the search for life beyond our solar system
When Earth passes in front of the sun, it blocks a small part of the sun’s light. Potential observers outside our solar system might be able to detect the resulting dimming of the sun and study Earth’s atmosphere. (Credit: Axel Quetz / MPIA / NASA) The past decade has brought about a revolution in astronomers’…
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NASA finishes huge mirror for James Webb Space Telescope, due for 2018 liftoff
The James Webb Space Telescope’s 18 mirrors are fully installed. (Credit: Chris Gunn / NASA) NASA has put the 18th and final piece of the puzzle into place for the $8.8 billion James Webb Space Telescope’s primary mirror – marking a major milestone on the way to the observatory’s launch in 2018. The 21.3-foot-wide mirror is…
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Hubble telescope’s successor has a ride to space
File photo of an Ariane 5 ECA launch. Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace – Photo Optique Video du CSG The European Space Agency has cinched an agreement with Arianespace for the October 2018 launch of the James Webb Space Telescope aboard an Ariane 5 rocket, which will dispatch the nearly $10 billion observatory on a bold mission that…