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Getting excited now!
Thought it wasn't going to launch 😲
it's shifting now
Performance nominal.
Mad that it's losing altitude. Didn't expect that. Guess it's just building up speed
i guess checking facebook on your phone means all is well 🙂
I assume the discarded components will fall back to earth and burn up on reentry? Shame they can't be reused a la SpaceX
Mad that it’s losing altitude. Didn’t expect that. Guess it’s just building up speed
It’s following the nominal performance trajectory exactly, according to the graphics on screen, the drop in altitude during that stage of the flight was explained by the commentary.
climbing (about 100km a minute) faster than Pog must be juicing
Class live pics at the end there. 🙂 Delighted this is away without at hitch, amazing. Canny wait for the first images.
It looked like it was a flawless launch.
What an amazing Christmas present for everyone involved in it!
That was spot on! Yer, that live vid was so good!
Glad it got the first part out the way!
the drop in altitude during that stage of the flight was explained by the commentary.
gravity boost for speed?
Brilliant! Big up johndoh family and the rest of the team. When Webb sprung away from the final bit of Ariane you could feel Shiny-head Launch Director’s relief. He must be down the beach three bottles of Pastis in by now.
Agree it didn’t look like it was going anywhere but when it did it cleared the tower licketty-split!
Where is Webb website is ace.
I love science, technology and engineering me.
EDIT. Still got to unpack that mother… 😬
I bet there are some really pissed ESA employees in Kourou at the moment.
Wow! That thing is shifting 1.5 mi/s to think all the interesting stuff is yet to come. To think what might be found.
gravity boost for speed?
From what my poor, limited brain can grasp, the dip is barely noticeable really, it’s a regular arc, but I believe that the slight drop in altitude is down to the lack of propulsion at that stage, between main stage shutdown and second stage ignition, it shows more on the graphic, but the scale is highly compressed there. In reality it’s a very slight flattening of the launch trajectory arc. It’s the coasting stage, IIRC.
I think that’s the actual situation.
Whatever, watching the launch live was really gripping, I never saw the first moon launch, I was on holiday in South Devon with my parents in a touring caravan, the caravan site had a clubhouse with a telly, but I was still at school and too young to go into the bar to watch it. 😕
Must be rather intense looking at a launch and deployment of anything space related that you've worked on for years.
I'm fascinated by it all - not so much the engineering that goes into the kit as I have knowledge of some of it through work - but more the whole concept of space and time. To be able to see now what happened umpteen years ago is a weird thing to get your head around.
As our single life span as individuals is so short in relation to what is being studied, I wonder how many of the scientists get frustrated because they don't live long enough to see the true fruits of their work.
I don’t think they see it like that. - that are just doing their thing
But so proud - Amy has overall responsibility for the actual mirror unfolding- the next big step for the project. Go Amy.
Is there a reason it’s going so slowly (in spacecraft terms)? 1.2 mi/s is just over 4000mph. Seems quite pedestrian really - is it simply a case of to go faster would need a good deal more fuel and they’re in no particular rush given all the various deployment phases taking place over the coming days?
@Danny - this is from the earlier linked web page….
Webb's speed is at its peak while connected to the push of the launch vehicle. Its speed begins to slow rapidly after separation as it coasts up hill climbing the gravity ridge from Earth to its orbit around L2. Note on the timeline that Webb reaches the altitude of the moon in ~2.5 days (which is ~25% of its trip in terms of distance but only ~8% in time). See the sections below on Distance to L2 and Arrival at L2 for more information on the distance travelled to L2.
is there a reason it’s going so slowly (in spacecraft terms)? 1.2 mi/s is just over 4000mph
quoting here.
This is by design, because if Webb gets too much thrust from the Ariane rocket, it can’t turn around to thrust back toward Earth because that would directly expose its telescope optics and structure to the Sun, overheating them and aborting the science mission before it can even begin. Therefore, Webb gets an intentional slight under-burn from the Ariane and uses its own small thrusters and on-board propellant to make up the difference.
So it's like crazy golf where the hole is at the top of a mound? If you smack the ball too hard it sails past the hole and down the other side, so you give it just enough of a tap that it slows all the way up the mound, barely reaches the top then plops into the hole. Except the ball is a $10bn spacecraft, the mound is gravity and the hole is the L2 point. Got it!
The family watched this with great excitement. Having lived through the eighties triumphs and disasters in space flight, there are always a few nervous moments. Amazing achievement so far.
I still find it hard to fathom how such precision can be adhered to from strapping a highly sensitive and fragile piece of equipment to a massive explosion and pointing it upwards. That’s a lot of maths. Looking forward to the snaps.
Also, the reported speed JWST is moving is relative to Earth, and earth's orbital velocity round the Sun is about 19mi/s. When JWST reaches it's parking place it will be almost stationary relative to Earth but with slightly faster orbital velocity because the L2 point is in line with Earth and 1% further from the Sun.
First mid course correction burn completed successfully.
Just found out that one of the significant instruments on board, MIRA (Mid InfraRed Instrument) was mostly developed and built in the U.K., Scotland specifically, and the team was led by a woman as well, Professor Gillian Wright MBE. It’s bits of the overall development that often get overlooked, so it’s great to see women in science and engineering getting recognised; too often in the past they’ve been deliberately sidelined in favour of men who contributed very little. Ava Lovelace and Hedy Lamarr spring to mind.
https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/people/edinburgh-scientists-celebrate-launch-of-james-webb-space-telescope-which-they-helped-to-develop-3507538
Ava Lovelace
Spelling mistake? Didn't she have a computer language named after her? But your point is understood
High Gain Antenna deployed. In a couple of days sunshield deployment begins (hopefully).
CountZero
Full MemberJust found out that one of the significant instruments on board, MIRA (Mid InfraRed Instrument) was mostly developed and built in the U.K., Scotland specifically, and the team was led by a woman as well, Professor Gillian Wright MBE.
So this is random but she contributed a load of work to an STEM outreach thing I helped with a few years back, she is a very cool lady. I had no idea she was involved in the JWST though, it was never mentioned! I guess they thought Herschel was more interesting to kids since it, you know, had actually made it into space at that point and could produce cool posters.
👏
That was the view from inside the engine of the F35 that didn’t quite fly off the HMS Queen Elizabeth.
By all accounts everything is going as well as could be hoped for. Sis-in-law looks absolutely exhausted though - she’s just grabbing a few hours sleep in between checking in with her team (as she has overall responsibility for the next two weeks and the unfolding of the mirror array).
Second mid-course burn successful earlier today and I just read the sunshield deployment has started - forward sunshield pallet deployed. I don't suppose @johndoh's SiL will be sleeping much for a few days.
Big up Amylo-silof-johndoh!
Wonder if the Ariane flight director’s hangover has gone yet.
Spelling mistake? Didn’t she have a computer language named after her?
No, she was a mathematician and basically wrote the program for the machine to run after she realised it could be much more than a whizzy adding machine. She was Lord Byron’s daughter, and died very young, at 32.
And yes, it was a spelling error it should have been Ada. Sorry ’bout that! ☺️
<b>Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace</b> (<i>née</i> <b>Byron</b>; 10 December 1815 – 27 November 1852) was an English mathematician and writer, chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage's proposed mechanical general-purpose computer, the Analytical Engine. She was the first to recognise that the machine had applications beyond pure calculation, and to have published the first algorithm intended to be carried out by such a machine. As a result, she is often regarded as the first computer programmer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_Lovelace</span>
temp data now up on the JWST site
Also just completed deployment of the tower assembly holding the mirror and instruments. Next step release the sunshield cover and pull out the sunshield. Eek.
I read part of an article that was paywalled that suggested that, because the flight is following parameters so closely, it likely that the telescope’s working life could be extended.
Which always seems to happen - there is a working life span published, and then whatever it is continues happily working away long after it should have quietly died!
Hubble has, it’s been working for thirty years, there are the Voyagers, and various other long range satellites, as well as Mars rovers; here’s hoping JWST does as well as Hubble. Who knows, after ten years, it’s possible that a robot refuelling mission can be sent out.
@CountZero - un-paywall article direct from NASA - looks to be due to the accuracy of the Ariane V 🙂
A bit like Ryanair flight times: advertise the arrival time as 40 minutes after the planned time and you always make people happy when you arrive "early".
CountZero
Full MemberWho knows, after ten years, it’s possible that a robot refuelling mission can be sent out.
If I understand rightly it has some docking capability so rather than refuelling it's maybe more feasible to send out a tractor unit to do its maneuvering for it.
@dannybgoode - found another article a little while ago, it confirmed what you said about the accuracy of the launch and it’s ongoing flight being nominal!
https://www.digitaltrends.com/news/webb-space-telescope-mission-duration/
Of course, there are the usual caveats, there’s still some way to go until the ‘scopes final insertion into L2 orbit, so fingers crossed still.
OK the latest is the sunshield covers have been rolled back so the next bit is probably the most crucial - deploy sunshields from tomorrow. NASA are apparently also doing some live broadcasts starting on Sunday with Sunshield Tensioning. I wondered where this year's "Slow TV" had got to.
starting on Sunday with Sunshield Tensioning. I wondered where this year’s “Slow TV” had got to.
I’m wondering where the greatest tension is going to be, come Sunday… 😁
Someone has managed to film the JWST from a ground-based remote telescope, which is rather cool; might be an interesting little project for those on here with ‘scopes.
https://www.space.com/james-webb-space-telescope-video-image-virtual-telescope-project
Sunshield successfully deployed. All 107 "devices" which had to release did so. It gets tensioned over the next couple of days.
Bet Amy johndoh is feeling a bit chuffed - and rightly so!
I am sure she will be but we haven’t caught up since Boxing Day as she’s not really had any time spare since then! We’re hoping to catch up over the weekend 🙂
She won’t quite know what to do with herself in a couple of weeks after spending the last nine years building up to this!
So apparently all is going okay, but not quite a positive as the press is currently sharing.
And FIL (the in-laws are in LA supporting the rest of the family) has just tested positive within a few days of their planned flight home. 🙀
Amy Loh is on a media conference at the moment and has just explained that the pause has been to check on the configuration of the solar panels to ensure adequate power output and the re-orientate the telescope to reduce temperatures of the motors which control sunshield temperature (-300K!). They are now happy that things are in the right operating window and tensioning has started.
What does -300k mean?
I think that's when Newcastle fans think about putting a coat on. Minus 573C.
Spoiler - that's not a real thing. -300F is pretty chilly - still T-shirt weather though.
What does -300k mean
Well it isn’t degrees Celsius or Kelvin so just a leaves fahrenheit. ~-148 C
No you're right. I thought she said -300 Kelvin but that is obviously nonsense. So perhaps 300 Kelvin. Then again since it's America I would guess it's -300 F, which sounds right given that the current cold side temperature at the instruments is -314 F.
I think that’s when Newcastle fans think about putting a coat on. Minus 573C
😆
Yup - just caught up with them and Amy says everything is hunky dory 😹🥳 and she’s name checked on the BBC site…
Pictures from the development and build - good shots of the vast size of the sunshield
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasawebbtelescope/albums/with/72157624420579873
First layer tensioned.
😃
They're cracking on now. 2nd and 3rd layers fully tensioned.
They’re cracking on now. 2nd and 3rd layers fully tensioned
Where are you getting your updates from? The 'Where is Webb' page doesn't have so much detail
From "Where is Webb" click on the "Webb Space Telescope" link - bottom left of the page. From there click on the Blog link.
Or Blog
Also Twitter @NASAWebb
oh that is excellent, thank you
There is a Nasa TV Live broadcast at he moment as layer 4 and 5 tensioning continues. They have a pretty cool "live animation" tool which takes real time data and creates a visual model of what is currently happening.
I'm finding this telescope to be really uplifting news. After all the idiocy of the last five years it's reassuring that a few humans can still do really clever things. If the telescope is ever found by alien life they'll at least think 'well, they're not all morons.'
And that's it. All 5 layers deployed.
There is a Nasa TV Live broadcast at the moment
I really like that lady doing the interviewing. She has a great balance of being tech but still being able to do the interview thing
edit: it's also super relaxing to listen to, it's like a non-musical version of lo-fi beats
Mint.
Does Amy Lo get to go on the lash now?
Hah! I hope so - but I think she is going to have a huge hole in her life once it is all done.
Update - not heard a word from her. I reckon she is still sleeping LOL!
It's secondary mirror deployment day. Coverage on nasa.gov/live from 14:45 if you're stuck on a boring conference call (aren't they all?).
Yeah, I am not sure if Amy's job is done now or whether she is still involved for the remainder of the unfurling.
xkcd have it covered.
"Being deployed to an L2 orbit beyond the Moon so out of range of any human or indeed robot servicing mission".
It's not going to the Earth/Moon L2 point, it's going to the Sun/Earth L2 point, which is actually even further away. If they sent it to the Earth/Moon L2 point we wouldn't be able to communicate with it, due to the moon being permanently in the way.