posted 03-12-2021 08:32 AM               

Later this year, the telescope will travel by ship to a launch site in South America, passing through the Panama Canal to reach French Guiana. Webb, with a mirror as tall as a two-story building and a protective shield the size of a tennis court, is too large for a plane. Its departure date will be kept secret, someone said at the meeting, to protect against pirates who might want to capture the precious cargo and hold it for ransom. Christopher Conselice, an astrophysicist at the University of Manchester who attended the meeting, was at first baffled by the concern because, well, pirates, but it quickly clicked.

"Why would you announce that you're going to be shipping on a certain day something that is worth over $10 billion," he explained to me, "that you could easily put in a boat" and sail away with?

posted 06-05-2021 10:10 PM               

The Ariane 5 is scheduled to make its next launch, the first since the August 2020 launch that had the payload fairing anomaly, in the second half of July, said Beatriz Romero, JWST project manager at Arianespace. That launch will be the first of two commercial Ariane 5 launches before the JWST launch.

At a May 11 media event, Greg Robinson, program director for JWST at NASA Headquarters, said that the JWST launch would take place about four months after the first of the two commercial Ariane 5 launches ahead of it. That would push the launch, currently scheduled for no earlier than Oct. 31, to at least the middle of November.

posted 11-22-2021 02:57 PM               

The incident occurred during operations at the satellite preparation facility in Kourou, French Guiana, performed under Arianespace overall responsibility. Technicians were preparing to attach Webb to the launch vehicle adapter, which is used to integrate the observatory with the upper stage of the Ariane 5 rocket. A sudden, unplanned release of a clamp band – which secures Webb to the launch vehicle adapter – caused a vibration throughout the observatory.

A NASA-led anomaly review board was immediately convened to investigate and instituted additional testing to determine with certainty the incident did not damage any components. NASA and its mission partners will provide an update when the testing is completed at the end of this week.

posted 12-14-2021 06:31 PM               

The James Webb Space Telescope team is working a communication issue between the observatory and the launch vehicle system.

posted 12-18-2021 12:06 PM               

NASA Sets Coverage, Invites Public to View Webb Telescope Launch

NASA will provide coverage of prelaunch, launch, and postlaunch activities for the James Webb Space Telescope, the world's largest and most powerful space science telescope.

Webb is targeted to launch at 7:20 a.m. EST Friday, Dec. 24, on an Arianespace Ariane 5 rocket from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on the northeastern coast of South America.

Live launch coverage in English will begin at 6 a.m. on NASA TV, the NASA app, and the agency's website. The public can also watch live on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Twitch, and Daily Motion. NASA also will offer a launch broadcast in Spanish beginning at 6:30 a.m. on the agency's website and Spanish-language social media accounts. NASA will hold a prelaunch media briefing at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 21, and a postlaunch news conference approximately 30 minutes after the live launch broadcast ends on Friday, Dec. 24.

The Webb mission, an international partnership with ESA (European Space Agency) and the Canadian Space Agency, will explore every phase of cosmic history – from within the solar system to the most distant observable galaxies in the early universe, and everything in between. Webb will reveal new and unexpected discoveries and help humanity understand the origins of the universe and our place in it.

Full mission coverage is as follows. All times are Eastern, and information is subject to change.

NASA Press Briefings

At 2 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 21, NASA will hold a virtual prelaunch media briefing with the following participants:

• NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy
  
• Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters in Washington
  
• Greg Robinson, Webb program director, NASA Headquarters
  
• Beatriz Romero, Webb project director for launch services, Arianespace in Paris

On Friday, Dec. 24, approximately 30 minutes after Webb's launch broadcast ends, a joint news conference will take place in Kourou.

Both briefings will stream on NASA TV, the NASA app, and the agency's website.

NASA TV Launch Coverage in English

NASA TV live coverage will begin at 6 a.m. Friday, Dec. 24. For NASA TV downlink information, schedules, and links to streaming video, visit here.

NASA Launch Coverage in English

Launch day coverage will be available on the agency's website. Coverage will include livestreaming and blog updates. On-demand streaming video and photos of the launch will be available shortly after liftoff. Follow coverage online here.

NASA Launch Coverage in Spanish: Desplegando el Universo

Hosted by Begoña Vila, Webb instrument systems engineer, NASA's broadcast of the launch in Spanish will include interviews with Hispanic members of the mission and live commentary from Kourou by Vila and ESA engineer Julio Monreal.

The show, which will begin at 6:30 a.m. Friday, Dec. 24, will be available on NASA en español's YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook accounts, as well as on NASA's website.

The agency has also released the first episode of NASA's Curious Universe podcast in Spanish. The episode, "Desplegando el universo con el telescopio espacial James Webb," is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and SoundCloud.

Public Participation

Members of the public can register to attend launch virtually. NASA's virtual guest program for the mission includes curated launch resources, notifications about related opportunities or changes, and a stamp for the NASA virtual guest passport following a successful launch.

Virtual NASA Social

As NASA prepares for Webb to #UnfoldTheUniverse, the agency invites the public to join the James Webb Space Telescope social event on Facebook. Participants will be joined by NASA, ESA, the Canadian Space Agency, and the Space Telescope Science Institute. Stay up to date on the latest mission activities, interact with Webb experts in real-time, and watch the live launch broadcast with an interactive chat.

Watch and Engage on Social Media

Stay connected with the mission and let people know you are following the launch on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram with #UnfoldTheUniverse. Follow and tag these accounts:

• Twitter: @NASA, @NASAWebb
  
• Facebook: NASA, NASAWebb
  
• Instagram: NASA, @NASAWebb

posted 12-22-2021 01:54 PM               

Thunderstorms (60-85% chance).

The only difference between days is the decreasing chance of storms after December 30.

posted 12-23-2021 04:32 PM               

The James Webb Space Telescope, mounted atop the Ariane 5 rocket it will ride into space, has arrived at its final location on Earth: the Arianespace ELA-3 launch complex at Europe’s Spaceport located near Kourou, French Guiana.

posted 12-24-2021 10:12 PM               

Watch the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope — the most powerful space telescope ever made. This mission is scheduled to lift off at 7:20 a.m. EST (12:20 UTC), Dec. 25, 2021, aboard an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana.

Live coverage of the launch begins at 6 a.m. EST (11:20 UTC).

posted 12-25-2021 08:43 PM               

You can track where Webb is in the process and read about upcoming deployments.

NASA has a detailed plan to deploy the Webb Space Telescope over a roughly two-week period. The deployment process is not an automatic hands-off sequence; it is human-controlled. The team monitors Webb in real-time and may pause the nominal deployment at any time. This means that the deployments may not occur exactly in the order or at the times originally planned.

posted 12-27-2021 02:00 PM               

It also means we won't seen the purple (or pink) tint of its sunshield. I have seen some questions about the color on other sites, so adding the explanation (from here):

Webb deploys a tennis-court sized Sunshield made of five thin layers of Kapton E with aluminum and doped-silicon coatings to reflect the sun's heat back into space. The Kapton is a commercially available polyimide film from Dupont, while the coatings are applied to a specialized Webb specification.

Each layer is coated with aluminum, and the sun-facing side of the two hottest layers (designated Layer 1 and Layer 2) also have a "doped-silicon" (or treated silicon) coating to reflect the sun's heat back into space. The sunshield is a critical part of the Webb telescope because the infrared cameras and instruments aboard must be kept very cold and out of the sun's heat and light to function properly.

Kapton is a polyimide film that was developed by DuPont in the late 1960s. It has high heat-resistance and remains stable across a wide range of temperatures from minus 269 to plus 400 Celsius (minus 452 to plus 752 degrees Fahrenheit). It does not melt or burn at the highest of these temperatures. On Earth, Kapton polyimide film can be used in a variety of electrical and electronic insulation applications.

The sunshield layers are also coated with aluminum and doped-silicon for their optical properties and longevity in the space environment. Doping is a process where a small amount of another material is mixed in during the Silicon coating process so that the coating is electrically conductive. The coating needs to be electrically conductive so that the Membranes can be electrically grounded to the rest of JWST and will not build up a static electric charge across their surface. Silicon has a high emissivity, which means it emits the most heat and light and acts to block the sun's heat from reaching the infrared instruments that will be located underneath it. The highly-reflective aluminum surfaces also bounce the remaining energy out of the gaps at the sunshield layer's edges.

The pink hue of the lower side of the sunshield is due to the coating.

posted 12-27-2021 05:55 PM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by SkyMan1958:
I wonder if the HST could take a picture of the JWST that would show the details of the JWST.

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posted 12-29-2021 06:25 PM               

NASA's Webb team analyzed the JWST's initial trajectory after its launch atop an Ariane 5 rocket from ESA's Centre Spatial Guyanais in French Guiana. They found that the Ariane 5 did its job better than expected and the course corrections required less fuel than was originally estimated.

As a result, the main engines and the eight smaller attitude thrusters of the spacecraft have a larger remaining supply of the 43 gal (159 l) of hydrazine fuel and 21 gal (79.5 l) of dinitrogen tetroxide oxidizer originally loaded aboard. Rocket fuel is the biggest limiting factor of a craft's lifespan. Because it's needed for station keeping and attitude control, the more there is means the longer a mission can be.

posted 12-29-2021 06:36 PM               

quote:

---

Originally posted by SpaceAngel:
...somewhat similar to STS-31?

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posted 01-01-2022 04:40 PM               

Webb mission management decided this morning to pause deployment activities for today and allow the team to rest and prepare to begin Webb's sunshield tensioning tomorrow, Sunday, Jan. 2. That deployment is still expected to take place over at least two days.

This will likely affect the full timeline for Webb’s deployment. The timeline will be updated as major deployments resume.

posted 01-04-2022 10:05 AM               

James Webb Space Telescope experts give real-time updates in the final stages of the telescope’s sunshield deployment.

posted 01-04-2022 04:20 PM               

1. Secondary Mirror structure
   
2. The Science experiment radiator
   
3. The Port Primary Mirror Wing
   
4. The Starboard Primary Mirror Wing

posted 01-05-2022 10:14 AM               

James Webb Space Telescope experts give real-time updates on deployment of the telescope’s secondary mirror. The secondary mirror is one of the most important pieces of equipment on the telescope, and is essential to the success of the mission.

When deployed, this mirror will sit out in front of Webb's hexagonal primary mirrors, which form an iconic honeycomb-like shape. This smaller circular mirror serves an important role in collecting light from Webb’s 18 primary mirrors into a focused beam. That beam is then sent down into the tertiary and fine steering mirrors, and finally to Webb's four powerful scientific instruments.