JWST launch delayed to 2019
Discussion
Stan the Bat said:
skwdenyer said:
ChocolateFrog said:
Turns out I was watching the NASA feed on a 30 minute or so delay.
Well done ESA and Ariane 5 looked like a textbook launch although they did say the solar array unfurled sooner than planned, don't know what that was about.
“Sooner than planned” isn’t a good start - after all these years, there shouldn’t be any uncertainty in what the thing will do and when!Well done ESA and Ariane 5 looked like a textbook launch although they did say the solar array unfurled sooner than planned, don't know what that was about.
More good news: "Due to the precision of our launch and our first two mid-course corrections, our team has determined that Webb should have enough fuel to allow support of science operations for significantly more than a 10-year science lifetime!"
andy_s said:
NASA explain: "That deployment was executed automatically after rocket separation, based on a stored command to deploy either when Webb reached a certain attitude toward the Sun or automatically at 33 min. after launch. Because Webb was already in the correct attitude, the array deployed about 1.5 min after separation, or 29 min. after launch."
More good news: "Due to the precision of our launch and our first two mid-course corrections, our team has determined that Webb should have enough fuel to allow support of science operations for significantly more than a 10-year science lifetime!"
Excellent news!More good news: "Due to the precision of our launch and our first two mid-course corrections, our team has determined that Webb should have enough fuel to allow support of science operations for significantly more than a 10-year science lifetime!"
This really was a great Christmas present for mankind.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Webb_Space_T...
Yes, I tried that after posting, a 6-month orbit of earth
Yes, I tried that after posting, a 6-month orbit of earth
I think they delayed it as they wanted to 'take our time and understand everything we can about the observatory before moving forward'...'Nothing we can learn on the ground is as good as analysing the [JWST] when it's up and running - opportunity for learning everything on baseline operations'. [NASA]
Fingers x'ed anyway...
Fingers x'ed anyway...
According to the online monitoring the sunshield deployment phase has been extended by a day, so tensioning will probably happen tomorrow
https://www.jwst.nasa.gov/content/webbLaunch/where...
https://www.jwst.nasa.gov/content/webbLaunch/where...
andy_s said:
I think they delayed it as they wanted to 'take our time and understand everything we can about the observatory before moving forward'...'Nothing we can learn on the ground is as good as analysing the {JWST} when it's up and running - opportunity for learning everything on baseline operations'. {NASA}
Fingers x'ed anyway...
One might argue that there's sod all point in understanding everything we can about a state of deployment that is incomplete.Fingers x'ed anyway...
I suspect there are some people with numbers they didn't want to see currently crapping themselves.
Hopefully not a major issue.
Einion Yrth said:
andy_s said:
I think they delayed it as they wanted to 'take our time and understand everything we can about the observatory before moving forward'...'Nothing we can learn on the ground is as good as analysing the {JWST} when it's up and running - opportunity for learning everything on baseline operations'. {NASA}
Fingers x'ed anyway...
One might argue that there's sod all point in understanding everything we can about a state of deployment that is incomplete.Fingers x'ed anyway...
I suspect there are some people with numbers they didn't want to see currently crapping themselves.
Hopefully not a major issue.
https://www.space.com/amp/james-webb-space-telesco...
Looks like one of the points is that the tensioning motors are a bit warmer than planned, so they wanted to reorientate the craft to cool them a bit more before using them. Better safe than sorry…
Edited by 67Dino on Monday 3rd January 22:32
MartG said:
That sounds good. I’ve been more nervous about his and the mirror deployment than the launch.Gassing Station | Science! | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff