{"id":17442,"date":"2021-12-24T18:33:04","date_gmt":"2021-12-24T10:33:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/high-cost-high-risk-high-hopes-theres-a-lot-riding-on-the-10b-james-webb-space-telescopes-launch\/"},"modified":"2021-12-24T18:33:04","modified_gmt":"2021-12-24T10:33:04","slug":"high-cost-high-risk-high-hopes-theres-a-lot-riding-on-the-10b-james-webb-space-telescopes-launch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/high-cost-high-risk-high-hopes-theres-a-lot-riding-on-the-10b-james-webb-space-telescopes-launch\/","title":{"rendered":"High cost, high risk, high hopes: There\u2019s a lot riding on the $10B James Webb Space Telescope\u2019s launch"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full-width\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"630\" height=\"369\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/211223-ariane4-630x369.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-664193\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/211223-ariane4-630x369.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/211223-ariane4-1260x739.jpg 1260w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/211223-ariane4-768x450.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/211223-ariane4.jpg 1356w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption>An Ariane 5 rocket is set to launch NASA\u2019s James Webb Space Telescope. (NASA Photo \/ Bill Ingalls)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The launch of NASA\u2019s $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope from French Guiana could mark a triumph in a tale that thousands of astronomers have been following for a generation. Or it could result in the deepest tragedy.<\/p>\n<p>Either way, the climax is due to unfold beginning on Christmas morning \u2014 making for a plot worthy of a holiday movie.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve been waiting 23 years for this telescope to launch,\u201d University of Washington astronomer Eric Agol told GeekWire.<\/p>\n<p>Agol has been waiting so long that the focus of his research changed completely during the wait. Back in 1998, when the Next-Generation Space Telescope was still on the drawing boards, he was studying gravitationally lensed quasars.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was doing some science at the time with ground-based telescopes and, and specifically the Keck Telescope up in Hawaii,\u201d Agol said. \u201cWe were spending half a night looking at distant quasars, and then we calculated that with the James Webb Space Telescope, it would take a few milliseconds to do the same observation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Now he\u2019s studying planets beyond our own solar system \u2014 with an intense focus on TRAPPIST-1, a potentially habitable planetary system 39 light-years from Earth. It\u2019s a testament to the telescope\u2019s versatility that it promises to have just as dramatic effect on that project.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cJames Webb is just going to give phenomenal data on this system of transiting planets,\u201d Agol said. \u201cEach of the transits will yield spectral information if there are any signs of atmospheres in these planets. This is the first time where we have a really good chance of probing atmospheres on potentially Earthlike planets.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But first, the telescope has to get settled at its location in deep space, a million miles from Earth, at a gravitational balance point known as Sun-Earth L2. <\/p>\n<p>The Christmas launch is the first step: Under an arrangement forged by NASA and the European Space Agency, JWST will lift off from ESA\u2019s spaceport in French Guiana atop a European Ariane 5 rocket. After a series of postponements due to technical concerns and weather, launch is set for no earlier than 9:20 a.m. local time (4:20 a.m. PT) Dec. 25 \u2014 complicating holiday plans for astronomers around the globe.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey have to, like, schedule their kids\u2019 pancakes and presents so that their kids have a good Christmas, but also they need to watch James Webb deploy,\u201d UW astronomer Emily Levesque said.<\/p>\n<p>NASA is due to begin its streaming coverage at 3 a.m. PT Christmas morning.<\/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 \u2014 Official NASA Broadcast\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/7nT7JGZMbtM?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<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Unprecedented risks<\/h2>\n<p>This launch is nothing to joke about: It\u2019s coming after years of delay and billions of dollars in cost overruns. (When I wrote about JWST in 2007, the cost of what\u2019s now a $10 billion observatory was estimated at $3.5 billion, with launch slated for 2013.)<\/p>\n<p>Because of where the telescope is going, it can\u2019t be serviced by a crew of astronauts after it\u2019s launched. That\u2019s different from the Hubble Space Telescope \u2014 which had to undergo a major repair by a space shuttle team three years after deployment, due to a flaw in its mirror. <\/p>\n<h4 class=\"callout clearfix\"><strong>Frequently asked questions:<\/strong> NASA\u2019s quick rundown on the James Webb Space Telescope<\/h4>\n<p>Because JWST\u2019s mirror is so wide \u2014 6.5 meters, or 21.3 feet \u2014 it has to be folded up origami-style to fit inside the Ariane 5\u2019s fairing. That means the mirror, and the multilayered screen that protects the telescope\u2019s delicate instruments from the sun\u2019s glare, have to unfold after launch. The spacecraft can be reprogrammed in flight if something goes wrong with the software, but if JWST experiences a hardware problem, there\u2019s a chance the entire mission could be lost.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf anybody can do this, NASA can,\u201d Levesque said. \u201cIt\u2019s an unbelievably complicated launch and deployment. There are so many steps that have to go perfectly. They\u2019ve also spent years trying to make everything as perfect as possible. I think I\u2019ll be biting my nails with everyone else, and nothing about a space launch or a mission of this complexity is ever routine, but if anybody can get it to work, it\u2019s NASA.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The drama is due to unfold, so to speak, over the course of several weeks. The last date that Levesque has marked on her calendar to worry about is in late January, when JWST is scheduled to arrive at the L2 point. <\/p>\n<p>Because the gravitational pulls from Earth and the sun are aligned at that point, the spacecraft will require a minimum of thruster firings to remain in a stable location within Earth\u2019s shadow. But it\u2019ll take another few months to get the telescope commissioned for first light and full-scale science operations.<\/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<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Unprecedented returns<\/h2>\n<p>For more than a decade, NASA has been talking up the James Webb Space Telescope as the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, which has managed to last more than 30 years. <\/p>\n<p>Like Hubble, JWST\u2019s instruments are designed to make discoveries across the spectrum of astronomy \u2014 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.<\/p>\n<p>The Webb telescope\u2019s 18-segment mirror has almost seven times the light-gathering capability of Hubble\u2019s mirror, and a significantly wider field of view. But Webb is different from Hubble in a far more fundamental way: It\u2019s designed to see the universe in infrared light, rather than Hubble\u2019s wider range of ultraviolet, visible-light and infrared wavelengths.<\/p>\n<p>That means the pictures released to the public are more likely to be color-coded to reflect variations in the infrared spectrum, just as pictures from the Spitzer Space Telescope have been. Infrared telescopes are especially suited for peering through shrouds of obscuring dust to see what\u2019s going on inside protoplanetary disks, or mapping cosmological frontiers affected by relativistic redshifting.  <\/p>\n<p>Levesque expects JWST\u2019s infrared readings to contribute to her own research, which focuses on how the biggest stars in the universe evolve and die.<\/p>\n<h4 class=\"callout clearfix\"><strong>Geek of the Week:<\/strong> Emily Levesque looks out at massive stars and looks back at the history of astronomy<\/h4>\n<p>\u201cSome of the dying big stars that I study, red supergiants, are actually fascinating to study in infrared light,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>One example is the star Betelgeuse, which generated headlines a couple of years ago when it went through a mysterious cycle of dimming and brightening. Astronomers eventually determined that the dimming was probably caused by a cloud of dust.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf James Webb had been able to observe Betelgeuse when that happened, it would\u2019ve seen something very different, because that same dust that blocks the light we see with our eyes actually glows and gives off a pretty good amount of infrared light,\u201d Levesque said. \u201cIt\u2019ll be an entirely new way of looking at these stars that we\u2019ve never been able to manage before, because we can\u2019t get those types of observations from the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But the discoveries that Levesque is most looking forward to, assuming JWST survives its trip to L2, are the discoveries that astronomers don\u2019t expect.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s this famous Hubble observation, the Hubble Deep Field, where they pointed Hubble at what looked like an empty patch of sky, and they just let it take a very long picture,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd when the picture came back, it was just wall-to-wall distant galaxies. It was this stunning picture of what the distant universe looks like. And it surprised everybody, just how incredible the picture was. I can\u2019t wait to see what the James Webb equivalent will be.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Listening to Levesque talk about what Webb might bring, you can\u2019t help thinking of a kid waiting for Santa Claus.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m excited for Christmas,\u201d she said.<\/p>\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 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 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 frustrate pirates 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. (It got 30%.)<\/li>\n<li>The telescope has 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 cooled down to a temperature of about 388 degrees below zero 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 theoretically possible to refuel the spacecraft if NASA really, really wants to.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><em>UW astronomer Emily Levesque is planning a series of in-person and virtual events to celebrate the release of the paperback edition of \u201cThe Last Stargazers,\u201d her behind-the-scenes look at the people who use the world\u2019s most powerful telescopes. The first event will be at Ada\u2019s Technical Books in Seattle on Jan. 4. There\u2019ll also be a virtual event presented by Third Place Books on Jan. 5, and a Jan. 21 event at Paper Boat Booksellers.<\/em> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An Ariane 5 rocket is set to launch NASA\u2019s James Webb Space Telescope. (NASA Photo \/ Bill Ingalls) The launch of NASA\u2019s $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope from French Guiana could mark a triumph in a tale that thousands of astronomers have been following for a generation. Or it could result in the deepest [&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":[1540,1661,246,1560,190],"class_list":["post-17442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-ariane-5","tag-astronomy","tag-esa","tag-james-webb-space-telescope","tag-nasa"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17442"}],"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=17442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17442\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}