JWST launch delayed to 2019
Discussion
shouldbworking said:
Wonder what odds the bookies are giving on this thing successfully making its way to orbit and working when it gets there..
Love science but I will be surprised if this turns out to be a success
It's not going into orbit in the way the Hubble space telescope did. The JWST will be placed into an orbit around the sun, rather than in an orbit around the earth. It will be "parked" at one of the stable La Grange Points about 1 million miles from earth.Love science but I will be surprised if this turns out to be a success
Putting all objects into space, especially something as large and as sophisticated as this, is always risky with all sorts of failure points which can compromise or even scupper the mission. I heard this morning on Radio 4 that the JWST has 178 hinge points as part of the unfurling process that have to work for the whole assembly to open up properly. In all, there are 300 failure points which could severely hamper or stop the mission from succeeding.
And, unlike Hubble, if the JWST fails to operate properly, it is much too far away for any sort of manned rescue mission.
But one thing NASA is very good at is salvaging missions when the technology doesn't work as it was intended to.
Because of the mission, and 5e instrument that’s being launched, the approach taken here - make sure everything works first time - makes sense. It looks a bit old and weird now, next to space x and their boosters, but for a telescope that won’t be reachable in orbit, this long winded process is probably the best way to go.
The Ariane rockets are quite reliable and so the launch going wrong would be a surprise.
The Ariane rockets are quite reliable and so the launch going wrong would be a surprise.
It's the complexity that worries me. Hubble was sat around for years before launch too and then they found the mirror hadn't been made properly. It took another 3 years and an expensive, dedicated Shuttle mission to fix its myopia.
The latest weather forecast is good, so they're "Go" for launch at 12.20 pm UK time.
The latest weather forecast is good, so they're "Go" for launch at 12.20 pm UK time.
The Ariane rocket has a 95% success rate, so getting it beyond earths atmosphere hopefully shouldn’t be a problem. The deployment though, is a different matter. Over 300 processes have to go without hitch for it to be deployed properly. All those latches, hinges and motors have to work perfectly after that flight in order for a successful deployment.
And there’s no sending a team up there to fix it, like we did with the Hubble. It’ll be a million miles away, four times more distant than the moon.
If it does all go without a hitch, the 25 years and $10 billion price tag will be well worth it.
And there’s no sending a team up there to fix it, like we did with the Hubble. It’ll be a million miles away, four times more distant than the moon.
If it does all go without a hitch, the 25 years and $10 billion price tag will be well worth it.
As someone who didn't pay enough attention during science lessons at school, please can someone clarify something for me.
This telescope will be taking images of galaxies and stars billions of light years away. So the image we actual see is what it was like billions of years ago. As we know, our own planet has changed dramatically in that time so how much use is it knowing what these galaxies and stars were like such a long time ago? They could be completely different now or even no longer exist.
This telescope will be taking images of galaxies and stars billions of light years away. So the image we actual see is what it was like billions of years ago. As we know, our own planet has changed dramatically in that time so how much use is it knowing what these galaxies and stars were like such a long time ago? They could be completely different now or even no longer exist.
Juanco20 said:
As someone who didn't pay enough attention during science lessons at school, please can someone clarify something for me.
This telescope will be taking images of galaxies and stars billions of light years away. So the image we actual see is what it was like billions of years ago. As we know, our own planet has changed dramatically in that time so how much use is it knowing what these galaxies and stars were like such a long time ago? They could be completely different now or even no longer exist.
That’s the whole point of it! This telescope will be taking images of galaxies and stars billions of light years away. So the image we actual see is what it was like billions of years ago. As we know, our own planet has changed dramatically in that time so how much use is it knowing what these galaxies and stars were like such a long time ago? They could be completely different now or even no longer exist.
We’re not really that interested in distant galaxies “now” - they’re hundreds of light years away, and even if we could see a sign saying “We’re aliens”, there is absolutely nothing we could do about it. If we could see them “now” it would be merely interesting - they would be a bit like our galaxy (presumably). This aspect IS interesting for objects that are close enough for us to actually reach. For example, if this telescope could spot a habitable planet round Alpha Centauri, then we might be able to discern life and possibly even communicate with it - albeit with an 8 year round trip. However, our current capabilities have pretty much ruled out discoveries like this.
If you can look at a variety of objects at different distances, you can build a chronology of what is happening to the universe. One minute you can be looking at light that took a million years to get here. Then you’re looking at light that took a thousand years. You can go and look for a star like our sun, but billions of years older - oh, it’s become a red dwarf, our theories are correct.
If you can look back far enough, you can start to work out what happened as the universe was created - which gets into really deep s
t like “why are we here?” and “is the universe actually a charm hanging round an alien cat’s neck”….Gassing Station | Science! | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff