The Most Exciting Thing Is About To Happen In Cosmology.The James Webb Space Telescope Is Ready To Be Launched!It’s A $10 Billion-Dollar High-Tech Wonder That Will Explore Strange New Worlds, And search For Life In Our Galaxy And Beyond.We Might Be On The Edge Of Finding The Answer To The Biggest Question In Science: Are We alone In The Universe?Now Get Ready To Find Out How This ‘First Light Machine’ Will Change The Way We See The Universe, And Show Humanity Things It’s Never Seen Before!
Named After NASA's Second Administrator Who Led The Apollo Missions And Was Responsible for More Than 75 Launches Into Space During The 60s, The James Webb Space Telescope, Alsocalled Webb Or JWST, Is The Largest Space Telescope In History, And It's Optimized Fori infrared Wavelengths.It Will Complement The Hubble Space Telescope’s Abilities, And Extend Our Discoveries Of Galaxies,And Exoplanets That Could Have Life.The Hubble Telescope Created A Revolution In Astronomy, And Raised New Questions That required A New, Different, And More Powerful Telescope To Be Built.The Webb Telescope Is 100 Times More Powerful Than The Hubble, And Will Have Longer Wavelength coverage, And Greatly Improved Sensitivity Over Any Other Previous Space Telescopes.This Is Why Some Scientists Call It A Time Machine.Because The Longer Wavelength Coverage Will Allow The Telescope To Look Further Back In time To Find The First Galaxies And Stars That Formed In The Early Universe.Helping With This Incredibly Difficult Task Is The Lightweight, Deplorable Primary Mirror,Which Is 2.7 Times Larger In Diameter Than Hubble’s Mirror.That’s About 6 Times Larger In Area.
The Mirror Is Made Of A Special Material Called Beryllium, Which
Has A High Strength-To-Weight ratio. This Will Give The JWST More Light-Gathering
Power Over Other Space Telescopes.These Special Beryllium Mirrors Are Coated
With A Super Thin Layer Of Gold That Is About1000 Atoms Thick To Optimize Their
Reflectivity In The Infrared Spectrum.The Entire Amount Used To Coat All The
Mirrors Is A Little More Than The Mass Of A Golf Ball [48.25 Grams Of Gold]Unlike
The Hubble Space Telescope, The James Webb Space Telescope Will Operate Much Farther from Earth, Allowing It To Achieve An Extremely Cold Operating
Temperature, Stable Pointing,And The JWST Will Have A Much Higher Observing
Efficiency Than The Earth-Orbiting Hubble.The JWST Is Designed To Detect
Near-Infrared And Mid-Infrared Wavelengths.This Is The Light Beyond The Red End
Of The Visible Spectrum, Which Is Invisible To The human Eye.For This To Happen,
The Optics Need To Be Freezing Cold.For Example, This Image Shows The
Comparison Of The Carina Nebula In Visible Light On Theleft, And Infrared Light
On The Right.
In The Infrared Image, You Can See More Stars That Aren’t There In The Visible Light Image.The James Webb Space Telescope Will Have A Mission Lifetime Of Around 10 Years, And That lifetime Is Ultimately Limited By The Amount Of Fuel The Telescope Needs To Maintain Its orbit, And The Proper Function Of The Spacecraft Itself And Its Instruments.The High-Tech Infrared Detectors Need To Be Cooled With Liquid Helium To Prevent Thermal fluctuations From Swamping The Astronomical Sensors.Because The Helium Will Gradually Be Used Up, This Expensive Telescope Only Has A Short mission Life Of 5.5 To 10 Years.So Chances Of It Operating Beyond This Will Depend On A Manned Spaceflight, Which Could happen 10-Years From Now, But There Is Nothing Planned As Of Yet.Which Brings Us To The Next Point...The Launch Of The James Webb Space Telescope Will Be A Huge Leap Of Faith For Humanity and Our Technological Capabilities.The Reason Is Because Webb Will Be Operated At The Second Sun-Earth Lagrange Point, Which is Located Approximately 1.5 Million Milometers Away From The Earth [1 Million Miles].This Means It Cannot Be Repaired Or Serviced, Including Refilling Its Liquid Helium Tank,After Reaching Its Destination, And Will Be Beyond Reach Of Any Currently Planned Crewed space Vehicle.Some Have Asked Why Webb Cannot Be Assembled And Tested In Earth’s Orbit, But This Was studied And Found Nearly Impossible To Pull Off.The International Space Station And Its Crew Do Not Have The Capabilities To Assemble Precision optical Structures In Orbit.There Is Also The Problem Of Space Junk And Debris, Considering That China And Russia recently Blew Up Satellites In Space.This Floating Debris Could Damage Or Contaminate The Expensive Telescope's Optics.Not Only That, But If The Space Station Were Used As A Stopping Point, Another Rocket Would be Needed To Launch Webb To Its Final Destination, And The Observatory Would Have To Be Designed with Much More Mass To Withstand A Second Launch.It’s Fragile Enough As It Is.The James Webb Telescope Is Bigger Than The Hubble, With The Most Important Thing Being the Diameter Of The Primary Mirror, Which Is Made Up Of 18 Hexagonal Segments And Stretches6.5 Meters [21-Feet Wide] From Top To Bottom, With Its Total Area Measuring Slightly More than 25 Square Meters.
The JWST Weighs In At Approximately 6,500 Kilograms [14,330
Pounds].That Is A Little More Than Half Of What Hubble Weighed On Earth.The Largest
Structure Of The JWST Is Its Sun Shield, Which Protects The Deployed Primary mirror, And The Tower That Holds The Secondary Mirror, Which Is Also
Made Of Beryllium Andis Gold-Coated.You’ll Notice Something Different About The
Webb Telescope, And That Is Its Open Design.
The Hubble Is Enclosed In A Tube, But Since Webb Will Be Farther
From The Heat Of The sun, Earth, And Moon, Its Open Design And Special Heat
Shield Will Keep It Cool Enough for Its Infrared Detectors To Work Properly.This
Sun-Shield Is About The Size Of A 20-Car Parking Lot, And Has Five Layers Of Special material Called Kapton, Which Is Also Used In Spacesuits.Each One Of
These Is About As Thick As Plastic Wrap, And Is Coated With Aluminum To
Helpkeep The Telescope As Cold As It Needs To Be To Detect Infrared Light.Each Layer
Of The Sun-Shield Is Separate From Each Other, And Each One Is Cooler Than
Theone Below.
Heat Radiates Out Between The Layers, And The Vacuum Between Each
Layer Is Also An Efficient insulator. It Works So Well That One Side Of The
Shield That Faces The Sun Will Be 85 Degrees Celsius [185 Degrees Fahrenheit].The
Other Side Where The Telescope, Mirrors, Detectors, And Filters Are Located
Will Bea Chilly -233 Celsius [-388 Fahrenheit]To Make Observations In The
Infrared Spectrum, The JWST Must Be Kept Under 50 Kelvin [−223°C; −370 °F]
Otherwise Unwanted Infrared Radiation Would Overwhelm Its Instruments.Even Infrared
Radiation From The Telescope Itself Can Cause Problems.But The Liquid Helium
Cooler Onboard Will Take Care Of That.All Warm Bodies And Objects Emit Infrared
Radiation, Even You And I.Being Able To Observe In Infrared Light Wavelengths
Means He Webb Can Detect More Distant And older Objects In The Universe. If You Want An Idea Of How Sensitive The JWST
Will Be, One Project Scientist Said It's So Powerful It Could Probably Detect A
Bumblebee On The Moon From Lagrange Point 2. Of Course, It Would Take A Timed
Exposure To Get Something That Small And Sensitive, And The Bumblebee Shouldn’t
Move, But This Isn’t A Problem When Looking At Distant Objects In The Universe
Because They Look As Though They Are Standing Still.Now The JWST Will
Communicate With Scientists On Earth Using A High Frequency Radio Transmitter.
NASA’s Deep Space Network, Which Consists Of Large Radio Antennas,
Will Receive The signals, And Those Will Be Sent To The Webb Science And Operation
Center At The Space telescope Science Institute In Baltimore, Maryland USA.Now The
James Webb Space Telescope Is Finally Set To Launch.There Will Be A Month Of
Critical Maneuvers As The Telescope Cruises Deeper Into Space,And Some Call
This 29 Days Of Terror.These 29 Days Will Be A Real Intense Time Because A Lot
Of Important Stuff Needs To happen. But The First Thing Is Getting It Safely Into
Space.
The Gigantic Size Of The Webb Telescope Presents A Huge And Unique
Challenge. It’s Not Easy To Send A Telescope This Big Into Space, Especially
Since An Ariane 5 Can’t Carry Anything Broader Than 5 Meters Wide. This Is Why
The Telescope Had To Be Designed Like A Gigantic High-Tech Billion-Dollar Piece
Of Origami.This Includes The Tennis-Court Sized Sun-Shield, Which Will Be
Folded Up For Launch, Put Inside The Ariane 5 Cargo Capsule, And Then Unfolded
Once It’s In Position.All Of These Were Amazingly Difficult Engineering
Problems, And Here’s The Real Mind-Blower.The James Webb Telescope Will Have 50
Major Deployments Involving 178 Release Mechanisms To Deploy Those 50 Parts,
And Every One Of Them Must Work!This Mission Is Like Nothing We Have Ever
Attempted Before, And It Will Be, Hands Down,The Most Complicated Space
Activity We Have Ever Done.This Is How The Launch Mission Will Go...The Ariane 5
Launch Vehicle Will Provide Thrust For Approximately 26 Minutes After Morning lift-Off From French Guiana On December 18, 2021.
Just Moments After The Second Stage Engine Cut-Off, Webb Will
Separate From The Arianerocket, Which Will Trigger Its Solar Array To Deploy So
It Can Begin Producing Electricity from The Sun.
The Telescope Will Quickly Establish Its Ability To Orient Itself
And Fly In Space.For The Telescope To Turn, The JWST Will Use Six Reaction
Wheels To Rotate Itself.These Reaction Wheels Are Basically Flywheels That
Store Angular Momentum.Those Reaction Wheels Will Work In Combination With
Three Star Trackers And Six Gyroscopes that Provide Feedback On Where The
Telescope Is Pointing And How Fast It Is Turning.This Will Help Keep The Solar
Array Pointed At The Sun, And The High-Gain Antenna Pointed-toward Earth.
But While It's On The Way To Its L2 Target, Some Important Things
Need To Happen. Webb Will Make A Mid-Course Correction Towards The Second Lagrange
Point.The Telescope Will Be On A Direct Course To The L2 Target And Will Not
Orbit The Earth.During This Time, There Will Be A Small, But Important,
Trajectory Correction Maneuver that Will Use Small Rocket Engines Onboard The JWST
Itself.The High Gain Antenna Will Also Be Quickly Deployed To Enable
Communications With The satellite.At This Time, The Telescope Will Be Moving So
Fast That It Will Pass The Moon's Orbitin One And A Half Days.That’s Half The
Time It Took The Apollo Astronauts To Reach Lunar Orbit.
After This, A Second Trajectory Maneuver Will Be Executed, And The
Sun Shield Will Be Deployed starting With The Fore And Aft Sun Shield Pallets.The
Next Step Is The Separation Of The Spacecraft Bus And Telescope By Extending
The Telescoping tower Between Them.This Tower Will Extend About Two Meters, And
Is Necessary So That The Rest Of The Sun Shield can Deploy.The Sun Shield
Membranes Will Be Unpinned, And The Telescoping Sun Shield Mid-Booms Will extend Beginning With The Port Side, Then The Starboard.
These Booms Will Pull The Aluminum-Coated Kapton Membranes Out
Along With Them, And The Last Deployment Step Will Be Tensioning Of The
Extremely Thin Membranes.During The Second Week After Launch, Mission Control
Will Finish Deploying The Telescope's Structures By Unfolding And Latching The
Secondary Mirror Tripod, And Rotating And Latching The Two Primary Window
Wings. But This Isn’t Even The Beginning, As It Will Take Six Months For The
Telescope To Become Fully Operational. In The First Month, It Will Take Several
Weeks For The Instruments To Cool All The Way Down To The Necessary Temperature
In The Shade Of The Sun Shield. This Is Because The Cool down Needs To Be
Carefully Controlled With Strategically Placed Electric Heater Strips, So All
Parts Shrink Carefully, And Any Water Trapped Inside Parts Of The Observatory
Can Escape As A Gas Into The Vacuum Of Space, And Not Freeze As Ice On The
Mirrors Or Detectors.
All Primary Mirror Segments, Including The Secondary Mirror, Will
Be Unlocked And Checked For Free Movement. Near The End Of This First Month,
There Will Be Another Mid-Course Maneuver To Place The Telescope Into Its
Optimum Orbit Around L2. In The Second, Third, And Fourth Months, Optical
Checkouts Will Occur, And Using The Fine Guidance Sensor, The James Webb Space
Telescope Will Be Pointed At A Single Bright Star To Demonstrate That It Can
Acquire And Lock On To Targets With Data Taken Mainly From The Nircam
Instrument.
However, The Primary Mirror
Segments Will Not Have Been Aligned At This Point To Work Together As A Single
Mirror, So There Will Be Up To 18 Distorted Images Of The Target Star. Mission Control
Will Then Start The Long Process Of Aligning All The Telescope Optics, And Aligning
All The Mirror Segments One At A Time, Including The Alignment With The
Secondary Mirror. This Process Will Take A Few Months To Complete, And By The
Time It’s Done, The Cool down Process Will End, And The Onboard Cryocooler With
The Liquid Helium Will Start Running At Its Lowest Temperature, And The MIRI Instrument
Can Start Collecting Data. Finally, During The Fifth And Sixth Months,
Calibration Of All Onboard Scientific Instruments Will Be Done While Looking At
Targets, And The Telescope Will Demonstrate The Ability To Track Moving Targets
Like Nearby Asteroids, Comets, Moons, And Planets In Our Own Solar System! At This
Time, NASA Will Make Early Release Observations After The Commissioning Is
Complete. These Will Showcase The Abilities Of The Observatory.
Science Operations Will Begin, And We’re Going To Be Very
Surprised At What The Telescope Is Going To Discover. The Main Science Goals Of
The Telescope Are To Search For The First Galaxies, And Detect The Very First
Stars That Formed Right After The Big Bang. During This Time, The Universe Was
Only One Or Two Percent Of Its Current Estimated Age Of 13.8 Billion Years. But We Have No Idea What It Looked Like, And
We're About To Find Out. One Of The Most Exciting Things Is That The James Webb
Space Telescope Will Also Be Able To Detect The Presence Of Planetary Systems
Around Nearby Stars From Their Infrared Light, And It Just Might Be Able To See
Very Young Planets Being Formed. The Webb Telescope Will Not Have The
Resolution To See Any Details On The Planets, But It Will Be Able To Measure
The Size Of Planets, And Able To See Starlight That Passes Through The Planet's
Atmosphere, Measure Its Constituent Gasses, And Determine If There Is Liquid
Water On The Planet's Surface. And Yes, The Telescope Will Be Able To Observe
Everything In Our Solar System That Is Further From The Sun Than The Earth,
Including The Dwarf Planet Pluto And Other Kuiper Belt Objects. By Studying Our
Own Solar System, We’ll Be Able To Test Theories On How Our Solar System Formed.
It’s Going To Be A Very Exciting Time, Because The Webb Telescope Is Also Going
To Observe Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, The Moons Around These Planets,
And Comets And Asteroids. And For The Record, All Of Webb's Images And
Discoveries Will Be Made Available To The Public, The Same As The Hubble Telescope.
The Only Thing Left Now Is For The Scientific World To Wait And Watch The
Telescope Go Into Space, And Hope That All Operations And Maneuvers Go As
Planned.However, Just Recently, The James Webb Space Telescope Has Had Yet
Another Delay.Technicians Were Preparing To Attach The Webb Telescope To The
Launch Vehicle Adapter, Which Is Used To Integrate The Observatory With The
Upper Stage Of The Ariane 5 Rocket.But A Sudden, Unplanned Release Of A Clamp
Band, Which Secures Webb To The Launch Vehicle Adapter, Sent A Vibration
Through The Observatory.Now NASA Wants To Be Sure That Those Vibrations Didn’t
Cause Any Damage.So Now The Launch Date Is Set For December 22, 2021.If All
Goes Well, Humanity Is About To Witness Things Never Seen Before.So Make Sure
You Stay Tuned Here To Stay Up To Date On Everything Space Related.
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