James Webb Telescope completes critical end-to-end test.

[Michael]

James Webb Space Telescope completes critical end-to-end test – Spaceflight Now

Scheduled for launch in the spring of 2019 aboard a European Ariane 5 rocket, the James Webb Space Telescope is the most sophisticated — and expensive — space observatory ever designed, featuring a 21.3-foot-wide primary mirror made up of 18 adjustable gold-coated segments that dwarfs the Hubble Space Telescope’s 7.9-foot-wide mirror.

I'm really starting to get excited about this program. For the longest time it seemed like a pipe dream due to the cost (now up to 8.8 billion), but most of the money is now spent, and the system is getting closer to being completed. I sure hope the launch goes off without a hitch. The JWST has the potential to rewrite virtually everything that we think we know about astronomy.

 

[Halbhh]

I'm excited about the Webb telescope too! It was such a wonderful thing to imagine, and then it began to happen, and it's still on track, and now if it makes it through launch and if all the critical systems and components work out there in the Lagrange point, and then....oh, that would be great! Looking forward to it!

 

[Galaxy Hunter]

Me too! Do we have an astronomy thread around this place?

 

[Halbhh]

Me too! Do we have an astronomy thread around this place?

Just this general forum area of physical and life sciences. You could try to start a general astronomy thread, and if you do, message me so that I know you did, and can show up. Lately, I've been relying more on just Phys.org Astronomy, so that I may be missing some good stuff, and I'd like to catch good stuff I miss.

 

[Galaxy Hunter]

I need to figure out how to get a galaxy picture above my name. How did you get your deep field picture there?

 

[Almost there]

James Webb Space Telescope completes critical end-to-end test – Spaceflight Now



I'm really starting to get excited about this program. For the longest time it seemed like a pipe dream due to the cost (now up to 8.8 billion), but most of the money is now spent, and the system is getting closer to being completed. I sure hope the launch goes off without a hitch. The JWST has the potential to rewrite virtually everything that we think we know about astronomy.

Me too! Do we have an astronomy thread around this place?

Back in the 80's, I was a member of the Boeing astronomy club. This stuff always fascinates me. Maybe they could point it at the moon and prove, once and for all, that we really landed there to all the jokers in the youtube video threads.

'Course, it might be more light than it could handle...

 

[Halbhh]

I need to figure out how to get a galaxy picture above my name. How did you get your deep field picture there?

Hover your pointer over your username up on the blue menu bar at the top of this screen, and then click "Personal Details". There you can change your icon image ("avatar").

To get the deep field photo, I remember left clicking on one of those photos a long while back and saving it to my computer, so I could use it as a background image for my desktop. It's an image from Hubble, and can't remember which site, but there are lots. Could try NASA.

 

[JIMINZ]

I have the feeling history is repeating itself once again with the James Webb Telescope.

I watched a documentary last week about the New Telescope which is almost ready to be launched, and the first thing I thought was.

They could have called it the "Tower of Babel Telescope," because it will reach to the Heavens.....Humm, are we sure this is something we really want to do?

 

[Michael]

I think the part that scares me the most is the fact that everything has to go exactly right in order for Webb to reach it's Lagrange point, and it will be too far away to repair it if anything goes wrong. Hubble had the distinct advantage of being only 8 minutes away by Shuttle. If anything goes wrong with Webb, it's bye-bye Webb. We'll be pretty close to a 10 billion dollar investment by launch. Only LHC rivals this project in terms of cost and LHC is located *on Earth*, and it too has required "maintenance".

The JWST is a daunting project mostly because everything has to be 'perfect' the first time.