Category: NASA

The James Webb Telescope Deployed

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The James Webb Telescope Deployed

The deployment of the James Webb telescope is a big damn deal. Congratulations, NASA.

The James Webb Telescope Deployed

Editor: JWST is a large infrared telescope with a 6.5-meter primary mirror. It will serve thousands of astronomers worldwide. The project is an international collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Canadian Space Agency. The telescope is named after James E. Webb, who was the administrator of NASA from 1961 to 1968 and played an integral role in the Apollo program. The James Webb Telescope will likely be pointing at stars and seeing its “first light” around mid-March. However, NASA says not to expect the first “showpiece” photos from Webb until May 24, 2022.

By D. S. Mitchell

Deployment

The James Webb Space Telescope was launched on December 25th from Kourou Launch Station in French Guiana with the help of Ariane-5 ECA rocket. The space telescope was folded and literally ferried  into space because it was too large to fit inside its launching rocket. A team of NASA techies spent several hours on Saturday, January 8, 2022 opening the final mirror, according to NASA. It is expected to take  another five months to complete setup; including aligning the telescope’s optics and calibrating its scientific instruments. The most powerful telescope of all time will begin transmitting later this spring.

Long Held Secrets

It is expected the JWST will answer many questions scientists have pondered for millennia. The James Webb Telescope will replace Hubble, NASA’s current eye in space. JWST is now orbiting  a somewhat mystical area of space where the gravity and centripetal forces of the Sun and the Earth are ‘just right’. This ‘just right’ region allows objects to remain in a relatively “stable” position. This invisible point in space is known as an Earth-Sun Lagrange point. With its final course adjustment complete, the JWST is now orbiting around the sun at a distance of nearly 1.5 million kilometers from Earth.

An Amazing Milestone

Space journalists agree that the deployment of JWST is an incredible achievement. The James Webb Space Telescope will scan the universe for light streaming from stars and galaxies formed billions of years ago. In fact, the telescope is a time machine, carrying the observer back to the beginning of the universe; to the Big Bang. JWST observations will be used to study the history of the Universe, including the evolution of our own solar system, and the formation of distant solar systems capable of supporting life on Earth-like exoplanets. Amazingly, the JWST will be able to provide information about the atmospheres of these exoplanets. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said, “While the journey is not complete, I join the Webb team in breathing a little easier and imagining the future breakthroughs bound to inspire the world’’.

OPINION: Billionaires In Space

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OPINION: Billionaires In Space

OPINION: Billionaires In Space  

By William Jones

NASA’s Monopoly Is Over 

It is now about 50 years since Neil Armstrong, was the first man to step on the moon. But in the era of space travel now dawning, far more of us are destined to join him.  In America’s new space age, NASA’s monopoly is over. The leaders are companies, not countries. And they are about to prove anyone with enough money can become an astronaut. The biggest names in the current space race are three of the richest men in the world, Elon Musk, Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos.

Space Tourism Starts Off Slow

“People want to go to space, people should go to space, because they come back changed,” said Richard Branson, the Virgin-brand billionaire who launched his space tourism business in 2004. From Virgin Galactic’s spaceport in New Mexico, six passengers per flight will rocket more than 62 miles above Earth for the ultimate selfie.  Six hundred people have pre-paid 250,000 dollars for the chance to fly, including 58-year-old Floridian ” It’s my turn, and I’m going,” MaryAnn Barry said. “I do want to see what the Earth looks like from space. I want to have that overview effect experience.”   Virgin Galactic on Sunday July 11, 2021 launched its first flight carrying Branson and several employees on a 53 mile high .  It is just one of many steps needed before it will launch a single paying customer. “It’s taken us fourteen years,” Branson said. “Space is hard. We’ve had our tears. We’ve had our joys. But I’ll tell you what, the joys have been fantastic.”

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