James Webb Space Telescope

We don't know what we don't know.
I think a fundamental part of humanities psyche is to ask Why? What's over there? How does that work? Is that edible?
And then go and find out.
Call it innate curiosity. Not everyone has it to the same degree. In some people it will manifest as climbing mountains. In others it will be looking for the perfect equation.
And we don't know the unintended consequences of those actions or gained knowledge.
Justin Swanton said:
BTW space is the perfect place for machines. If a satellite is well-designed there is virtually nothing that can compromise its functioning since its environment remains absolutely simple and constant - wear and tear is non-existent. Hence the extraordinary success of so many satellite missions where the satellite was able to operate well past its expected expiry date. If we could turn ourselves into robots then the galaxy (or at least the solar system) would be ours.
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If you ignore the stress of launch, the variations in temperature and the occasional doses of immense amounts of radiation.
 
Justin Swanton said:
So we are spending huge amounts of money learning more about a cosmos we will never personally interact with
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We personally interact with the cosmos all the time. We live and survive on a planet created within the cosmos and are constantly bombarded with particles from that very same cosmos. It was from the cosmos that an asteroid that (allegedly) wiped out the dinosaurs came and made way for us. Furthermore, those bombarding pariticles may well have played a part in the evolutionary path we took.

Maybe, subconsciously, we’re just looking for a way to go home.

As the song goes….we are stardust.
 
Pyan said:
Michael Faraday, when asked what use all this work on electricity was, replied: “Of what use is a newborn baby?”
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And he then went on to invent the electric motor. He is a classic case of theoretical research moving fast to practical application.

And don't forget what Sir William Preece, (Chief Engineer, British Post Office, 1878) said:
"The Americans have need of the telephone, but we do not. We have plenty of messenger boys."
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A reaction by an ignoramus to a practical invention.
 
Stephen Palmer said:
One premier league British football club spent one sixth of the cost of the James Webb telescope on players over ten years. Does that answer your question?
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For me it's just another manifestation of lunacy. £190 million for a single player, Neymar, transferred from Barcelonia to Paris Saint-Germain in 2017! I don't get it but that's just me.

There again it's nothing new. If a gladiator survived his career he could retire as one of the richest men in Rome.
 
CupofJoe said:
If you ignore the stress of launch, the variations in temperature and the occasional doses of immense amounts of radiation.
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The first is a one-off, the second means the extremes of sunlight or shade and satellites are designed with that in mind, and the third applies only to those satellites that pass close to a source of immense radiation like Jupiter and, again, they are built to withstand it. The things in space that can affect a satellite are few, well understood and easily catered for. It's not like the surface of the Earth where atmosphere, humidity, dust, living organisms, etc. inevitably limit the lifespan of a machine, especially something as complex and fragile as a satellite.
 
Everything continues to unfold smoothly - but if I had worked on this I'd still be nervous!
phys.org

Webb telescope fully deploys sunshield in mission milestone

The James Webb Space Telescope fully deployed its tennis-court sized sunshield Tuesday, a critical milestone for the success of its mission to study every phase of cosmic history, NASA said.
phys.org phys.org
 
Justin Swanton said:
Do we need to feel that science and technology are in a constant state of progress that will continue indefinitely? That the envelope will continue to be pushed, forever?
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I say, yes. I would find it boring to live in a world where everything was explained, where there is nothing new to be discovered, where there is no sense of wonder. I agree that there are practical things that humanity can and should expend time and effort on, but what may be the defining characteristic of mankind is the search for knowledge for which practical use is currently unknown and may never be discovered. Man has often wondered how it all began and now there is an opportunity to test the ideas, to prove and disprove, and fundamentally alter our understanding. The various experiments are evidence that men can actually do wonderous things, despite repeated evidence in our daily lives that we fall short in many of our most basic tasks. The quest for increased understanding of what may never be fully understood is what can give us hope.
 
Justin Swanton said:
If a satellite is well-designed there is virtually nothing that can compromise its functioning since its environment remains absolutely simple and constant - wear and tear is non-existent.
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Entropy still exists. An orbiting satellite is in a constant state of free fall; without some sort of altitude boost, all satellites fall to Earth. Energy conversion and storage degrade over time. Satellites are frozen in their technical capabilities; what was launched years ago falls short of what we could ask of the devices today. The ones launched today will fall short in answering the questions of the future.
 
Let's keep the discussion on the scientific aspect of this, please, and try not to be tempted to stray into metaphysics rather than physics.
 
Foxbat said:
According to this article (if I’ve understood it correctly), the next deployment will be the side-wings of the primary mirror. Then, it looks like not a lot happening for a month during cooldown. I’d be far too impatient for this waiting malarky.

James Webb Space Telescope Post-Launch Deployment Timeline

webbtelescope.org webbtelescope.org
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Be patient and try not to worry ;) :)

On a positive note, I heard that the launch was extremely well executed by the Ariane rocket and team, therefore the number of corrections required by the telescope to get it into the correct flightpath was much less than expected. Hence that means that the telescope has much more fuel than expected. Therefore they are projecting that the lifetime of the telescope has about doubled to 10 years. Which is fantastic news.

Only need the remaining 100 or so critical mission steps to go without a hitch!
 
Foxbat said:
According to this article (if I’ve understood it correctly), the next deployment will be the side-wings of the primary mirror. Then, it looks like not a lot happening for a month during cooldown. I’d be far too impatient for this waiting malarky.
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Good hits take time. Ask any Corleone. Except Sonny. Don't ask Sonny.
 
Venusian Broon said:
Be patient and try not to worry ;) :)

On a positive note, I heard that the launch was extremely well executed by the Ariane rocket and team, therefore the number of corrections required by the telescope to get it into the correct flightpath was much less than expected. Hence that means that the telescope has much more fuel than expected. Therefore they are projecting that the lifetime of the telescope has about doubled to 10 years. Which is fantastic news.

Only need the remaining 100 or so critical mission steps to go without a hitch!
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I seem to remember the original lifetime was estimated to be ten years and that the extra fuel will extend it beyond that.
 
mosaix said:
I seem to remember the original lifetime was estimated to be ten years and that the extra fuel will extend it beyond that.
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NASA had stated 5 years as the minimum time they expected, although they had given a range of up to 10 years, as I assume they were building into that range all sorts of eventualities because of the launch and other factors, and the lower figure was the one that most people seemed to be banding about just before the launch. At least of all the people that I listened to or read.

Now they have confirmed that the 10 year minimum is now very likely, and yes, there could still be fuel for more time after that (although one must point out that: "The space agency warns, however, that 'many factors' could ultimately affect JWST’s lifespan.")
 
Maybe in 10-20 years they could refuel it. I believe I read that it was designed with that possibility in mind.
 
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