{"id":17441,"date":"2021-12-26T01:55:21","date_gmt":"2021-12-25T17:55:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/telescopes-launch-makes-christmas-merry-for-space-fans-but-the-ride-has-just-begun\/"},"modified":"2021-12-26T01:55:21","modified_gmt":"2021-12-25T17:55:21","slug":"telescopes-launch-makes-christmas-merry-for-space-fans-but-the-ride-has-just-begun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/telescopes-launch-makes-christmas-merry-for-space-fans-but-the-ride-has-just-begun\/","title":{"rendered":"Telescope\u2019s launch makes Christmas merry for space fans, but the ride has just begun"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full-width\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"630\" height=\"460\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/ariane10-630x460.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-664332\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/ariane10-630x460.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/ariane10-768x561.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/ariane10.jpg 966w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption>An Ariane 5 rocket lifts off with the James Webb Space Telescope. (ESA \/ CNES \/ Arianespace \/ JM Guillon)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The most expensive telescope in the known universe has begun its journey to a vantage point a million miles from Earth with its launch from French Guiana.<\/p>\n<p>Today\u2019s liftoff of an Ariane 5 rocket from the European Space Agency\u2019s South American spaceport, coming at 9:20 a.m. local time (4:20 a.m. PT), was just the first step of what\u2019s expected to be a monthlong trip for NASA\u2019s $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEverything fell together on this Christmas Day to send a new present to the world\u2019s astronomers,\u201d NASA launch commentator Rob Navias said.<\/p>\n<p>Flight controllers broke into applause when the telescope separated from the Ariane 5\u2019s second stage. \u201cGo Webb!\u201d range operations manager Jean-Luc Voyer cried.<\/p>\n<p>NASA Administrator Bill Nelson noted that the James Webb Space Telescope is designed to look back to an age when the first stars and galaxies formed, more than 13.5 billion years ago.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a time machine,\u201d Nelson said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to take us back to the very beginnings of the universe. We are going to discover incredible things that we never imagined.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>JWST is due to settle into a region of space known as the Sun-Earth Lagrange Point 2, or L2, where the gravitational pulls of Earth and the sun align to help keep spacecraft in a stable position within Earth\u2019s shadow. Along the way, the telescope will have to unfurl its sunshield and its segmented mirror in a process that\u2019s said to have 344 potential single points of failure.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<iframe id=\"twitter-widget-0\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden; width: 0px; height: 0px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;\" title=\"X Post\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=b0yle&amp;dnt=true&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1474717083883778057&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.geekwire.com%2F2021%2Ftelescopes-launch-makes-christmas-merry-for-space-fans-but-the-ride-has-just-begun%2F&amp;sessionId=3276b421015439e2c0087431b78bf0bd457e5c37&amp;siteScreenName=geekwire&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&amp;width=550px\" data-tweet-id=\"1474717083883778057\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\" data-twitter-extracted-i1782799983200126777=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">We have LIFTOFF of the @NASAWebb Space Telescope! <\/p>\n<p>At 7:20am ET (12:20 UTC), the beginning of a new, exciting decade of science climbed to the sky. Webb\u2019s mission to #UnfoldTheUniverse will change our understanding of space as we know it. pic.twitter.com\/Al8Wi5c0K6<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 NASA (@NASA) December 25, 2021<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<\/figure>\n<p>NASA\u2019s project, taken on in partnership with ESA and the Canadian Space Agency, had to weather billions of dollars in cost overruns and years of delay. When the project was conceived in the 1990s, the Ariane 5 was the only rocket powerful enough to conduct the liftoff, which meant the telescope had to be transported by ship to the launch site.<\/p>\n<p>Just days before liftoff, a communications glitch and weather worries forced the launch to be rescheduled for Christmas \u2014 complicating holiday plans for astronomers around the world.<\/p>\n<p>Because of the telescope\u2019s far-off destination, it can\u2019t be repaired by a crew of astronauts after launch. There\u2019s no opportunity to fix any optical shortcomings, as was the case after the Hubble Space Telescope\u2019s deployment. Making sure the telescope is as fail-safe as possible is one big reason for the $10 billion cost.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThose who are not worried or even terrified about this are not understanding what we are trying to do,\u201d Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA\u2019s associate administrator for science, said in a pre-launch blog post.<\/p>\n<p>What NASA is trying to do is take astronomy to a level beyond what\u2019s achievable with Hubble, which is currently in its 32nd year of operation. To get there, scientists and engineers designed a telescope with a gold-plated, beryllium mirror so big (6.5 meters or 21.3 feet wide) that it had to be folded up origami-style for launch.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"James Webb Space Telescope Launch and Deployment\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/v6ihVeEoUdo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The Webb telescope\u2019s 18-segment mirror has&nbsp;almost seven times the light-gathering capability of Hubble\u2019s mirror, and a significantly wider field of view. NASA says Webb\u2019s instruments are 100 times more sensitive than Hubble\u2019s. <\/p>\n<p>JWST is optimized for infrared observations, which are particularly suited for studying the dusty places where planets are born, and the redshifted edges of the observable universe.<\/p>\n<p>James Davenport, an astronomer at the University of Washington who played a role in selecting which projects will get the telescope\u2019s observation time, said JWST should open a new window on the universe.<\/p>\n<h4 class=\"callout clearfix\"><strong>Previously:<\/strong> High cost, high risk, high hopes: There\u2019s a lot riding on the James Webb Space Telescope<\/h4>\n<p>\u201cAstronomers at UW have been making predictions of what JWST will observe for years,\u201d he said in an email. \u201cFrom measuring the atmosphere compositions from nearby extrasolar planets, searching for \u2018Planet 9,\u2019 and even studying individual stars in other galaxies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He said he and his colleagues at UW will be watching the telescope\u2019s journey to L2 \u201cwith bated breath,\u201d but without a sense of impending doom.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHonestly, I\u2019m not nervous at all,\u201d Davenport said. \u201cThe very best minds have been working on this facility for almost my entire life \u2026 the delays have been to make sure everything goes smooth.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>UW astronomer Emily Levesque was up early Christmas morning for the launch.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGreat to see the launch go so beautifully, and that call of \u201cS\u00e9paration Webb Space Telescope, GO WEBB!\u201d was spectacular and emotional to hear,\u201d she told GeekWire in an email. \u201cWe got a beautiful view of JWST as it separated and opened its solar array, and now the long adventure of deployment and the journal to L2 begins. \u2026 Back to bed over here for a couple&nbsp;hours, but hooray!!\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<iframe id=\"twitter-widget-1\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden; width: 0px; height: 0px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;\" title=\"X Post\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=b0yle&amp;dnt=true&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-1&amp;features=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%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=1474724928360525827&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.geekwire.com%2F2021%2Ftelescopes-launch-makes-christmas-merry-for-space-fans-but-the-ride-has-just-begun%2F&amp;sessionId=3276b421015439e2c0087431b78bf0bd457e5c37&amp;siteScreenName=geekwire&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&amp;width=550px\" data-tweet-id=\"1474724928360525827\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\" data-twitter-extracted-i1782799983200126777=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Here it is: humanity\u2019s final look at @NASAWebb as it heads into deep space to answer our biggest questions. Alone in the vastness of space, Webb will soon begin an approximately two-week process to deploy its antennas, mirrors, and sunshield. #UnfoldTheUniverse pic.twitter.com\/DErMXJhNQd<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 NASA (@NASA) December 25, 2021<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<\/figure>\n<p><strong>Update for 10:20 a.m. Dec. 25:<\/strong> In a post-launch follow-up email, UW astronomer James Davenport admitted to feeling a sense of relief:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cWell, a very merry Christmas for all astronomers this morning!! It\u2019s a big sigh of relief and joy to see this mighty telescope begin its journey.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAlready astronomers are chattering about how to catch a glimpse of JWST as it travels to L2 with telescopes on the ground! Even at its parking position, we should be able to \u2018see\u2019 JWST with our observatories on the ground, and maybe even in space with a near-Earth facility like TESS! It\u2019s a silly, but incredibly human reaction to such a monumental thing as Webb, wanting to catch a glimpse.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Five fast facts about JWST<\/h2>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The telescope was named after the late&nbsp;NASA Administrator James Webb, who led the space agency from 1961 to 1968. Some astronomers have called for Webb\u2019s name to be removed, saying that he went along with government discrimination against LGTBQ employees in the 1950s and 1960s. But NASA says&nbsp;the name is here to stay.<\/li>\n<li>JWST was built by Northrop Grumman under the supervision of NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, and had to be shipped from California to French Guiana via the Panama Canal. Details about the trip were kept under wraps, in part to&nbsp;frustrate pirates&nbsp;who might seek to hold the telescope hostage. Under the terms of its partnership with NASA, the European Space Agency was guaranteed at least 15% of the observing time.&nbsp;(It got 30%.)<\/li>\n<li>The telescope has&nbsp;four science instruments: the Near-Infrared Camera, or NIRCam; the Near-Infrared Spectrograph, or NIRSpec; the Mid-Infrared Instrument, or MIRI; and the Canadian Space Agency\u2019s Fine Guidance Sensor \/ Near Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph, or FGS\/NIRISS.<\/li>\n<li>JWST\u2019s mirror and detectors will have to be&nbsp;cooled down to a temperature of about 388 degrees below zero&nbsp;Fahrenheit (40 Kelvin or -233 degrees Celsius) to operate properly. That\u2019s a big challenge, since solar radiation is expected to heat up the \u201chot side\u201d of the telescope\u2019s sunshield to near-boiling temperatures, as high as 185 degrees F (85 degrees C).<\/li>\n<li>The telescope is designed for at least five and a half years of operation (six months for calibration, plus five years of science operations), but scientists are hoping it\u2019ll be around far longer. The limiting factor is expected to be fuel to maintain its halo orbit at L2. There\u2019s enough fuel for at least 10 years, and it\u2019s&nbsp;theoretically possible to refuel the spacecraft&nbsp;if NASA really, really wants to.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An Ariane 5 rocket lifts off with the James Webb Space Telescope. (ESA \/ CNES \/ Arianespace \/ JM Guillon) The most expensive telescope in the known universe has begun its journey to a vantage point a million miles from Earth with its launch from French Guiana. Today\u2019s liftoff of an Ariane 5 rocket from [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1661,246,1560,190],"class_list":["post-17441","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-astronomy","tag-esa","tag-james-webb-space-telescope","tag-nasa"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17441"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17441\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}