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[DieH@rd]

Forgive my engineering ignorance, but why has it taken so long to build this thing? Seems relativity simple compared to something like the LHC. Funding issue?

Also, is it really going to take 2 years of testing before it can be launched? Seems kind of excessive for (again forgive my ignorance) a relatively simple machine.

Nothing in this JWT is simple, it's an extreeeemly precise device that requires an insane amount of calibration. It's one of the best marvels of modern science and engineering.

2 year test is there because it has to survive the violent launch and then operate in total darkness of space for years [sun's ray will never touch it when it arrives at Earth-Sun L2], close to absolute zero.

 

[jayu26]

If something does go wrong, will they send astronauts to fix it anyway? They say it's too far away but they wouldn't just let this $10 billion telescope sit there broken, would they?

If we did send humans to fix it, it would be the farthest we would have sent humans. They are working on sending humans further into space, like Mars, but I don't think they feel fully comfortable to send humans to Earth-Sun L2 just yet. Although, I hope that they put together a team to look into robots who can maybe perform required actions. Just keep it as a backup plan, in case it did require some sort of maintenance. Robotics has come a long way since the Hubble problem.

 

[RumblingRosco]

I was saying the same thing as the person you quoted, what point are you trying to prove? There's no way they'd be able to mount a mission quick enough to go that far.

We both are saying that there wouldn't be a mission to rescue it, go back and do a reread:

The poster I responded to said "but they wouldn't just let this $10 billion telescope sit there broken, would they?" to which I replied "they would." If you're having trouble comprehending that I can spell it out for you in more detail, which is that they would leave the telescope out there to die.

I actually had the same brief thought of "Wait, this guy thinks they WOULD send someone out there?" ...but then I re-read the question and your post made sense.

And, to be honest, I could see a "lunar lander" type of device being built some day to allow for repair of distant man-made objects. I don't know how long this telescope is expected to be in operation, but it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibilities that in twenty years we have the technology to send out an unmanned robot that we could control from earth which would be capable of making minor repairs to the telescope.

 

[hughesta]

Oh my god this thing is gonna break and be useless isn't it

Please prove me wrong

 

[Kaako]

Magnificent! I can't wait till launch time, watching nervous as hell no doubt. The pictures we get from this thing, o ma gawwwd. It'll all be worth it and then some.

 

[HStallion]

If we did send humans to fix it, it would be the farthest we would have sent humans. They are working on sending humans further into space, like Mars, but I don't think they feel fully comfortable to send humans to Earth-Sun L2 just yet. Although, I hope that they put together a team to look into robots who can maybe perform required actions. Just keep it as a backup plan, in case it did require some sort of maintenance. Robotics has come a long since the Hubble problem.

I was thinking something similar or even sending the James Webb Telescope out with robots attached to or "living" on or inside of it. I would figure they are totally inert for the most point until something goes wrong or an issue arises then NASA or whoever controls them from afar to try and fix whatever went wrong.

 

[liquidtmd]

I wonder (and feel free to enlighten me) how the scheduling meetings look like as to delegating the weekly activities of what the telescope looks at and points toward.

Spoiler

Thinking of leading commando team into their conference room and getting them to look at the weird dimming star behaviour on day 1 of switching it on

 

[Captain Tuttle]

Good to see that ambitious science is still alive and well

 

[Joyful]

how do they decide where to look first tho

 

[Escape Goat]

how do they decide where to look first tho

Straight into Jennifer Lawrence's window

 

[HStallion]

how do they decide where to look first tho

They roll a 20 sided die.

 

[TheChamp]

how do they decide where to look first tho

That mysterious dimming star needs to be first

 

[Ovid]

I just hope the mirror is okay

Once it arrives at L2 there's no coming back from that. We can't send a EVU to fix it.

 

[~Devil Trigger~]

continue to stay awesome NASA

 

[jayu26]

I was thinking something similar or even sending the James Webb Telescope out with robots attached to or "living" on or inside of it. I would figure they are totally inert for the most point until something goes wrong or an issue arises then NASA or whoever controls them from afar to try and fix whatever went wrong.

That would be cool. And I don't even think that's that far fetched an idea. The only thing I think they are apprehensive about is time lag between inputs and action performed. For delicate assignments like these they probably want 1:1 control. Maybe we can have a craft orbiting moon and control the robot at L2 from there. Get better response times.

 

[HStallion]

For people curious about how the James Webb Space Telescope will "transform" or unfold to take its final shape I found this:

 

[SteveMeister]

Can't wait for a Musk rocket to blow it up

As if Orbital, NASA, China, ESA and Russia haven't had launch failures. Space is hard. Launch failures are part of the equation.

 

[jett]

Finally. I hope for no further delays.

Now watch as the rocket taking it into orbit accidentally blows up or something.

It's actually kinda sad how probable it is that his could happen. I imagine quite a few people would go suicidal.

Unlike with Hubble, astronauts won’t be able to reach the JWST to fix a problem after it launches. The telescope will be stationed too far away for them to reach — about 930,000 miles from Earth.

Is this really the most careful approach? Hubble has undergone several fix-ups as I far as I know, and NASA does enjoy fucking up.

 

[PdotMichael]

The telescope operates in a very safe orbit there is like no danger of getting hit by debris.

There is also less strain by and for the reaction wheel on the telescope compared to Hubble.

 

[MrToughPants]

10 billion over 20 years is chump change for such an important piece of technology... the yearly US defense budget is ~500 billion..

 

[Technosteve]

why is it so small?

 

[Maoyama]

Nothing in this JWT is simple, it's an extreeeemly precise device that requires an insane amount of calibration. It's one of the best marvels of modern science and engineering.

2 year test is there because it has to survive the violent launch and then operate in total darkness of space for years [sun's ray will never touch it when it arrives at Earth-Sun L2], close to absolute zero.

Hahaha no, thats wrong http://jwst.nasa.gov/images2/sunshieldhotcold.jpg

 

[HStallion]

why is it so small?

Its several times the size of Hubble

 

[Gallbaro]

Nothing in this JWT is simple, it's an extreeeemly precise device that requires an insane amount of calibration. It's one of the best marvels of modern science and engineering.

2 year test is there because it has to survive the violent launch and then operate in total darkness of space for years [sun's ray will never touch it when it arrives at Earth-Sun L2], close to absolute zero.

Unless I missed it, what is powering this thing?

Edit:

Hahaha no, thats wrong http://jwst.nasa.gov/images2/sunshieldhotcold.jpg

 

[Ettie]

Now watch as the rocket taking it into orbit accidentally blows up or something.

Have to admit, I'm really scared of that.

 

[Escape Goat]

Have to admit, I'm really scared of that.

when was the last time this happened with NASA?

 

[Disxo]

You know what ksp needs? Telescopes

 

[PantherLotus]

This will be one of the greatest achievements in human history.

 

[Nokterian]

This telescope is going to produce more amazing photos of the universe than ever before. I am excited for nasa and all scientists with this accomplishments.

 

[Clefargle]

So hyped! My father is a machinist at general dynamic and he lead the program to polish those mirrors and treat them before the next step in the process! It will be amazing to see what images it takes knowing that he helped create those mirrors!

 

[John_B]

This is so awesome. I still worry it will blow up.

It's awesome to witness these type of grand projects in a time where most progress is micro managed and constantly evolving without you barely noticing.

 

[HStallion]

So hyped! My father is a machinist at general dynamic and he lead the program to polish those mirrors and treat them before the next step in the process! It will be amazing to see what images it takes knowing that he helped create those mirrors!

I'd love to see a well made documentary on the history, design and creation of the James Webb.

 

[RCSI]

Oh my god this thing is gonna break and be useless isn't it

Please prove me wrong

That's why they are testing it now, to fix any potential problems that may crop up before launch, to ensure things actually work and survive when it launches..

 

[Air]

One of the more exciting pieces of tech on the horizon. Looking forward to seeing whatever in some insane resolution.

 

[Bulk_Rate]

You see, I will pay taxes all with a smile for truly impactful projectslike this. So excited to see the first images!

 

[Technosteve]

Its several times the size of Hubble

you didn't answer my question. this thing should be the size of a football field

 

[Air]

Here's a time lapse of the mirrors being put into place.

http://www.popsci.com/james-webb-space-telescope-assembly-mesmerizing-time-lapse

 

[maquiladora]

you didn't answer my question. this thing should be the size of a football field

Lots of things should be ___. Good luck trying to obtain funding for that. It was very lucky that this survived the very real risk of being canceled by Congress in 2011. Now imagine increasing the budget by 10 or 20.

 

[Woorloog]

you didn't answer my question. this thing should be the size of a football field

Lifting parts for football field sized telescope, and then assembling in the orbit would probably cost somewhere close to 100 billion dollars, or a lot more probably.

As it is, it is pretty massive telescope. (Surface telescopes need to be big thanks to the silly atmosphere getting in way.)

 

[IchigoSharingan]

8 billion dollars and they can't afford spell check.

 

[HStallion]

you didn't answer my question. this thing should be the size of a football field

Have you thought about how insanely difficult it would be launching something the size of a football field into orbit?

 

[nhlducks35]

If you want to understand how powerful this is

Webb will have an angular resolution of somewhat better than 0.1 arc-seconds at a wavelength of 2 micrometers (one degree = 60 arc-minutes = 3600 arc-seconds). Seeing at a resolution of 0.1 arc-second means that Webb could see details the size of a US penny at a distance of about 24 miles (40 km), or a regulation soccer ball at a distance of 340 miles (550 km).

 

[sphinx]

If you want to understand how powerful this is

I really wonder if we could completely map the planetary system of Proxima Centauri (or some nearby star), the way we have it here, seeing how this telescope seems to be able to go into such detail, something Hubble was never good at.

Nebulae, Galaxies and what not, Hubble got it... A planet, moon or any kind surface of anything, none that I know of.

we have hubble and yet we had to send new Horizons to see Pluto with detail, and that's ridicously close to us in cosmological terms.

 

[Technosteve]

Have you thought about how insanely difficult it would be launching something the size of a football field into orbit?

Space elevators

 

[PHOENIXZERO]

Now watch as the rocket taking it into orbit accidentally blows up or something.

I'm going to be so nervous watching the launch.

Launch isn't what I'd be worried about, I worry a lot more about when it's actually up in space and hope really hard everything goes 100% smoothly and there's no missed defects because this is never going to get fixed if there is.

 

[The Incarnation]

This will be one of the greatest achievements in human history.

And it's all going to happen when Trump is president, and the UK is out of Europe.

Prime timeline.

 

[Escape Goat]

Launch isn't what I'd be worried about, I worry a lot more about when it's actually up in space and hope really hard everything goes 100% smoothly and there's no missed defects because this is never going to get fixed if there is.

 

[Xe4]

I'm so freaking excited. I remember being stoked about this as a freshman in HS, but thinking 2018 was so far away. Now it feels just around the corner. There's going to be so much good science done with this scope, it's going to be fantastic.

Too bad it won't last as long as the Hubble will : (

 

[televator]

"Yep, that's a telescope."

 

[theWB27]

you didn't answer my question. this thing should be the size of a football field

Fudge it steve...build it the size of Rhode Island on top of rockets so that when they're done they can press the start button and it just lifts with no problem. Amirite...who cares about physics and reality in science huh.


OT- I'm so excited for this. Like some others....find out what's going on with that star.