Space Travel & Exploration

[PACOX]

Will JWST's final orbit be in a place accessible by ISS or other crew to repair if needed? I would guess/hope so, but wasn't sure.

Oh man, not even close. It's going to pass the Moon.

Its a very ambitious project.

[Tsarez]

Will JWST's final orbit be in a place accessible by ISS or other crew to repair if needed? I would guess/hope so, but wasn't sure.




Thanks for the clarification. Holy cow though - to be able to see the first stars.

No, no maintenance is possible. It's absolutely out of question with our current technology to reach it once it sets out. That's what makes all of this so scary and exciting.

It will not even be in regular orbit. It's FUCKING far our there, in order to turn it's back to the sun, earth and moon. Nearly 1 million miles from Earth

It will circle around Lagrange Point 2.

Just Google that and be in awe from where that beast is going to lurk into the vast abyss


Edit: poster above me already linked an image. Honestly, to me this feels like my very own moon landing. The only thing to top this will be setting foot on Mars.

[cubby]

Oh man, not even close. It's going to pass the Moon.

Its a very ambitious project.

Oh, holy shit - near one of the Lagrange points. Lol, yeah, that's not going to be accessible at all. That's awesome.

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No, no maintenance is possible. It's absolutely out of question with our current technology to reach it once it sets out. That's what makes all of this so scary and exciting.

It will not even be in regular orbit. It's FUCKING far our there, in order to turn it's back to the sun, earth and moon. Nearly 1 million miles from Earth

It will circle around Lagrange Point 2.

Just Google that and be in awe from where that beast is going to lurk into the vast abyss


Edit: poster above me already linked an image. Honestly, to me this feels like my very own moon landing. The only thing to top this will be setting foot on Mars.

I actually know about the Lagrange points from the sci-fi I read and mostly understand (I can spell orbital mechanics!). That is awesome.

[Easo]

Launch in 20 minutes

[Easo]

Well, last separation done and it is on the way. Now ~2 weeks for deployment and at least 2 more for getting to it's final orbit. Half a year until it starts working...

[Tsarez]

Yeah all good so far. I'm always amazed at how precise they can calculate everything that will happen.

[Othraerir]

just watched a vid on the engineering, holy shit.

[Nerraw]

Where is Webb?

[cubby]

just watched a vid on the engineering, holy shit.

I know there is a lot of those out there, but if it was good, could you link it?

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Where is Webb?

Awesome link - thank you.

[Nerraw]

First course correction burn was successfully completed about 12 hours ago. Next step is the main antenna being deployed some time today.

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Antenna succssfully deployed!

Next up is the second course correction burn, coming up some time tomorrow.

[Vegas82]

Pretty good vid on the engineering involved in the telescope.

[Othraerir]

btw, that was the video i watched above

[Nerraw]

Pretty good vid on the engineering involved in the telescope.

[video=youtube_share;aICaAEXDJQQ]http://youtu.be/aICaAEXDJQQ[video]

Utter and complete distilled engineering insanity.

[cubby]

@Vegas82 - thanks for the link. Fantastic stuff. I have the Where is Web link up 24/7 - thanks again for that @Nerraw.

[XDurionX]

JWST is probably one of the most ambitious and exciting projects we will see in our lifetimes. I really hope it succeeds despite having ~350 single points of failure.

Hubble exceeded our expectations, which sets the bar pretty high for JWST.

[Nerraw]

Second course correction burn was also a success. Next step is the process of opening up for the heat shield, which is the real nailbiter of this mission. That process will begin today and continue over several days.

[Nerraw]

Sunshield pallets have correctly opened up. Deployment itself will happen over the next few days.

In other good news, the Ariane 5 launch was so precise that the expected lifetime of the telescope is now "significantly longer" than the original estimated 10 years, due to fuel savings.

[Vegas82]

[Winter Blossom]

NASA Hires Theologians to Understand How World Will React to Discovery of Alien Life

[Forogil]

Where is Webb?

Interesting - but badly named.

It gives lots of information, but it's a progress tracker and doesn't say where it physically is, but more how far into the deployment it is; that's why it looks as if it is 16% from Earth compared to Earth-L2 (as it is on day 5 of 30) - when it has completed 42% of the distance, which should indicate that it will slow down from 829.4 m/s and while writing it just went down to 825.6 m/s.