Poll: Will James Webb Telescope successfully deploy?

[Gumby]

So far so good fingers crossed.

The sunshield bit is the trickiest part. I guess it's still deploying.

Yes, today they are going to swing out the secondary mirror and lock it into place. That should be underway right now.

 

[audreyh1]

Yes, today they are going to swing out the secondary mirror and lock it into place. That should be underway right now.

That’s exciting!

 

[Gumby]

That’s exciting!

The secondary mirror has been successfully unfolded and swung out to its proper position just now. It will take about 45 minutes to lock it in place.

Edit to add: Latching was successful. Now it is actually a telescope, although they still need to fold out the two wings of the primary mirror. Then they will spend time focusing everything just so.

 

[gooddog]

Of course it will successfully deploy, it is a top notch government project.

 

[Gumby]

Perhaps it makes you feel better to be snarky, but it is unnecessary. So far, the telescope deployment has gone spectacularly well. The last "deployment" activity will be tomorrow morning, when they swing out into place and latch the starboard wing of the primary mirror assembly (they did the port one today). Then it is two more weeks of flight to the L2 Lagrange point where the telescope will be stationed, followed by a few months of focusing the mirrors and calibrating the instruments. They expect to commence their pre-selected imaging activities in June. It is really quite an engineering accomplishment.

 

[CaptTom]

I thought it was interesting that one reason for the long timeline to first light is that the instruments have to cool down to some ridiculous temperature. The cooler the telescope is, the fainter the objects it can see in the infrared. It just boggles my mind that it's so sensitive it'll take months to cool down, even out in space.

 

[gooddog]

Perhaps it makes you feel better to be snarky, but it is unnecessary.

Not sure what is 'snarky', it is a top notch government project. I live very close to where this is all happening, and used to work for one of the agencies that is making it happen...although way back in the 1980's. But I can see how someone with an attitude could take my statement and turn it around.

 

[Gumby]

Not sure what is 'snarky', it is a top notch government project. I live very close to where this is all happening, and used to work for one of the agencies that is making it happen...although way back in the 1980's. But I can see how someone with an attitude could take my statement and turn it around.

I have never seen a statement like yours that wasn't intended as sarcasm, but I suppose there is a first time for everything. If that is indeed the case, then no harm, no foul - and my apologies. Let's just carry on together enjoying the success of the project.

 

[gooddog]

I'm quite a big fan of our space program...Having worked for three different agencies (two of them government) at Cape Canaveral. Still watch the launches from my porch, when I'm in Florida for the winter, and still get a 'lump' in my throat.

 

[Gumby]

I am also a big fan of the space program. Back in the 60s and early 70s, I watched all the Gemini and Apollo launches, and when I went to the Naval Academy, I harbored dreams of becoming an astronaut myself. Ultimately I did not, becoming a submariner instead, but I have always supported NASA and have been enthralled by the almost miraculous things they have accomplished over the years.

 

[Gumby]

Primary mirror is now fully deployed and the JWST is on the way to L2. No more dicey unfolding maneuvers. There will be one more trajectory correction burn to lay it carefully into position.

As Capt. Tom notes, the instruments currently are cooling down. While that's happening, they'll be tweaking the primary mirror segments to focus them perfectly, then, at the right temperature, turning on and calibrating the various instruments at the heart of the telescope.

 

[martyp]

I am a mechanical engineer. Everything can break but that doesn’t necessarily mean a failure.

 

[Sojourner]

Primary mirror is now fully deployed and the JWST is on the way to L2. No more dicey unfolding maneuvers. There will be one more trajectory correction burn to lay it carefully into position.

As Capt. Tom notes, the instruments currently are cooling down. While that's happening, they'll be tweaking the primary mirror segments to focus them perfectly, then, at the right temperature, turning on and calibrating the various instruments at the heart of the telescope.

So can we safely safe that everyone who voted for option #1 in the poll was (pretty much) correct at this point? Or is it too early to celebrate?

 

[Fermion]

So can we safely safe that everyone who voted for option #1 in the poll was (pretty much) correct at this point? Or is it too early to celebrate?

Great, now some alien ship is going to sideswipe it...

 

[SecondCor521]

So can we safely safe that everyone who voted for option #1 in the poll was (pretty much) correct at this point? Or is it too early to celebrate?

Again, I don't know why I'm nervous about this particular mission, as I am generally an optimist about most things and know that our sciencefolk are very capable people.

That being said, I wouldn't declare victory yet. The thing is a telescope and it hasn't taken an image yet, so I think it is too early to celebrate.

Remember Hubble with its misground mirror? That is an example of three different things: 1. Why it's too early to celebrate, 2. An example of the kind of unexpected / unpredicted / unplanned failure that I alluded to earlier, and 3. A reason why L2 is riskier than low-earth orbit - we were able to repair Hubble but a similar failure on this one would be tougher (but not impossible) to fix.

 

[audreyh1]

Waiting for it to reach L2 orbit and stay there!

Also, agreed, we need some images!

 

[turbo89]

Waiting for it to reach L2 orbit and stay there!

Also, agreed, we need some images!

I think we’re their (or will be in a few hrs)!

 

[REWahoo]

Webb has arrived and been inserted into L2 orbit. Eagerly anticipating snapshots - in a few months.

 

[Koolau]

Webb has arrived and been inserted into L2 orbit. Eagerly anticipating snapshots - in a few months.

Snapshots. SNAPSHOTS!?

 

[audreyh1]

Webb has arrived and been inserted into L2 orbit. Eagerly anticipating snapshots - in a few months.

Yep - that’s the real test.

They’ve still got a lot of adjusting and calibrating to do.

 

[UtahSkier]

Photons Received: Webb Sees Its First Star – 18 Times
https://blogs.nasa.gov/webb/2022/02/

 

[audreyh1]

Very cool! I enjoyed that video (saw it earlier today)

 

[Koolau]

I guess it makes sense that the telescope would need a few tweaks after being blasted into orbit. I hadn't thought in terms of the cooling process taking that long. Heh, heh, my old '66 olds could seem to cool to 80 Kelvin just over night!

 

[sengsational]

This looks promising. I haven't been following this at all. Dumb question: how much "better" will these images be compared to Hubble?

 

[Gumby]

This looks promising. I haven't been following this at all. Dumb question: how much "better" will these images be compared to Hubble?

For a reflecting telescope, like both JWST and Hubble, the light collecting ability is proportional to the area of the primary mirror, which is proportional to the square of the diameter. Hubble diameter is 8 feet. JWST is 21 feet in diameter. So that factor alone, means it is 6.9 times as strong. Additionally, Hubble observes in the visible spectrum while JWST observes in infrared. Visible light is more easily obscured by cosmic dust than infrared light. A commonly cited figure is that, all things considered, JWST is 100 times more powerful than Hubble.