Dec. 21, 2021
Happy December solstice today! The big space news item is the upcoming launch of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), currently scheduled for Friday (Dec. 24), 7:20am EST. This is a big deal: JWST is a $10 billion instrument with the potential to revolutionize our understanding of the universe in many ways. It’s also stressful, because there are so many things that have to go exactly right for the telescope to deploy successfully, and there’s no current way to send astronauts to fix it if anything goes wrong. You can find lots of news articles and videos about it, but I’ll share a few key facts about what to watch for over the next month or so:
- To watch the launch live, go to NASA’s Youtube channel. The launch rocket is the European Space Agency’s Ariane 5, launching from the European Spaceport in French Guiana (South America).
- JWST will be sent to an orbit nearly a million miles from Earth, where it will remain approximately fixed at what is called the “L2” point for the Sun-Earth gravitational system. This location allows the telescope’s sun shield to shield it from heat from the Sun, Earth, and Moon, which would otherwise interfere with the telescope’s infrared observations. Click here to learn more about the L2 orbit.
- JWST is so big that no existing rocket could launch it “as is” (photo below is a full scale model on display at the 2013 South by Southwest festival). Therefore it had to be folded up to fit on the Ariane 5 rocket.
- This means that it has to undergo an extensive, 29-day deployment sequence in which it is carefully unfolded after launch. Watch NASA’s “29 Days on the Edge” video to learn how the sequence will work.
- Click here for NASA’s “quick facts” about JWST, including its science capabilities.
Also, in case you missed them, NASA has had two other exciting astronomy launches in the past month: the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission, which should help us learn how to keep our planet safe from impact threats, and the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE), which should help us learn more about black holes and other exotic objects in the universe.
In other exciting news: On Dec. 8, we opened our new Colorado Scale Model Solar System; the photo below (from Jodi Schoemer) is from the ribbon cutting ceremony. Read more about our new model here. More important: Would you like to have a similar scale model solar system for your own campus or community? The new CU model is the world’s first installation of a Voyage Mark II model, based on the design of the Voyage model on the National Mall in Washington, DC. Eleven other communities are already in the process of installing a Voyage Mark II model, so why not join in? Learn more at the Mark II web site, and feel free to email me with any questions.
Finally, while it may seem unrelated to space news, I have a movie recommendation for you: I highly recommend The Rescue, about the 2018 rescue of the Thai boys soccer team that was trapped in a cave. This documentary movie shows a large number of people coming together, all to do the right thing for the right reasons. And therein lies the connection to space news: We live in a world where far too many people seem to suffer from what I call “center of the universe syndrome,” in which people behave as though they believe the universe revolves around them. I support astronomy and space exploration because I believe it can help us over come that, and thereby to act more generously and kindly to one another. So while The Rescue may not be about space, it is a great illustration of what humans are capable of when we are at our best.
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Best,
Jeff