link at https://www.technologyreview.com/s/410253/a-moon-based-telescope/
Posted on 04/24/2018 10:58:46 AM PDT by LibWhacker
The announcement by NASA that launch of the James Webb Space Telescope is going to be delayed over another year, now May 2020, felt like déjà vu.
When the JWST was first proposed in 1997, it was supposed to launch in 2007 and cost half a billion dollars. Now the launch date is 13 years later and the cost is at least $8.8 billion. NASA will have to go back to Congress for more money if the huge space observatory exceeds previous cost caps.
In the meantime, NASA is convening an independent review board that will examine the problems that have plagued the space based astronomy project. The board will map out the final testing and integration of the project and will present its findings to the space agency. After a NASA review, the report will be presented to Congress by the end of June.
The telescope is a worthy science mission. When it is finally launched on top of an Ariane 5 rocket, the JWST will spend 30 days traveling a million miles to an Earth-Sun Lagrange point, where it will begin its observations. The JWST will do everything from observing the afterglow of the Big Bang to imaging planets in other star systems. The telescope will be a worthy successor to the Hubble Space Telescope.
So, why has the JWST exploded in cost, and why is its completion date being constantly delayed? One reason is that the space telescope is one of the most complex instruments humans have ever attempted to deploy in space. Its primary mirror, measuring 6.5 meters, will be folded inside the rocket faring and will unfold once the telescope reaches space.
The JWST also sports a tennis-court-sized sunshield. Because the JWST images distant objects in infrared, it must be kept very cold, hence it needs to be shielded from the light and heat of the sun. The sunshield will also be folded inside the rocket and will unfold in space.
The main problem with the space telescope is that, unlike the Hubble, it cannot be serviced after it is deployed in space. The JWST will be too far away, and in any case, no one possesses the spacecraft that can send either astronauts or tele-operated robots to fix problems or perform enhancements.
The ability to be serviced saved the Hubble Space Telescope from disaster. When the Hubble was first launched, a flaw in the mirror made it all but useless. A daring space shuttle mission performed fixes to the space telescope that restored its function and enabled a steady stream of scientific discoveries. Subsequent missions enhanced the Hubble and extended its operational life. What might have been a disaster was transformed into one of the greatest scientific triumphs in human history.
However, the James Webb Space Telescope has to perform perfectly without outside intervention. The cause of the latest delay stems from the necessity to perform more integration tests of the space telescope’s various systems. Any design flaw, any manufacturing mistake, would doom the telescope to be an $8.8 billion piece of space junk. Testing has already uncovered a number of such problems, including leaky valves and tears in the sunscreen that occurred when it deployed.
Therefore, a lesson must be derived from the JWST. The more complex a spacecraft, the more likely it will be to fail. The problem could be mitigated by finding a less challenging solution, such as assembling the JWST in low Earth orbit and testing it there before moving it to its Earth-Sun Lagrange point. The James Webb Space Telescope could have been designed to be serviceable, if not by human astronauts, perhaps by robots that could be controlled from Earth. If NASA and its international partners take the lesson to heart, fiscal disasters such as the JWST may be avoided going forward.
Where are all of NASA’s rocket scientists?
is this the Webb Hubbell telescope?
On Muslim outreach...........................
And the Skylab guys that learned from their mistakes on this have long since retired.
It ate MH 370?
The [James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)] science mandate is principally divided among four areas:
First light and reionization: This refers to the early stages of the universe after the Big Bang started the universe as we know it today. In the first stages after the Big Bang, the universe was a sea of particles (such as electrons, protons and neutrons), and light was not visible until the universe cooled enough for these particles to begin combining.
Another thing JWST will study is what happened after the first stars formed; this era is called “the epoch of reionization” because it refers to when neutral hydrogen was reionized (made to have an electric charge again) by radiation from these first stars.
Assembly of galaxies: Looking at galaxies is a useful way to see how matter is organized on gigantic scales, which in turn gives us hints as to how the universe evolved. The spiral and elliptical galaxies we see today actually evolved from different shapes over billions of years, and one of JWST’s goals is to look back at the earliest galaxies to better understand that evolution.
Scientists are also trying to figure out how we got the variety of galaxies that are visible today, and the current ways that galaxies form and assemble.
Birth of stars and protoplanetary systems: The Eagle Nebula’s “Pillars of Creation” are some of the most famous birthplaces for stars. Stars come to be in clouds of gas, and as the stars grow, the radiation pressure they exert blows away the cocooning gas (which could be used again for other stars, if not too widely dispersed.)
However, it’s difficult to see inside the gas. JWST’s infrared eyes will be able to look at sources of heat, including stars that are being born in these cocoons.
Planets and origins of life: The last decade has seen vast numbers of exoplanets discovered, including with NASA’s planet-seeking Kepler Space Telescope. JWST’s powerful sensors will be able to peer at these planets in more depth, including (in some cases) imaging their atmospheres.
Understanding the atmospheres and the formation conditions for planets could help scientists better predict if certain planets are habitable or not.
https://www.space.com/21925-james-webb-space-telescope-jwst.html
Technology is expensive.
The government has cost over runs.
Relax, it will be well worth it. When people think of Hubble the cost overruns are the last thing they think of.
The Information we will learn will be priceless and advance human understanding tenfold.
Scary to some people, sure, but if we let the cautious timidity of the un-curious lead us, we’d still be living in trees.
What they never mention is that the original mission suffered severe mission creep. The mirrors were of a size and material that had not been done before. The initial project timeline even without mission creep was overly optimistic.....ridiculously so
We’ll see if it launches. Would love to see it do so. Am not convinced it will
That’s is not what is required for this project
I started working on a key enabling technology for JWST and other space programs back in the early 90’s (cryocoolers). Anyway, we delivered the JWST cryo system to the next higher level of assembly in 2014. I can tell you that the JWST cryogenic system is by far the most complex cryogenic system ever built for space applications. Several other advanced electro/mechanical systems are also on this beast of a spacecraft.
I am now retired after 40 years in the aerospace industry, I consider working on the JWST cryo system to be the highlight of my career. Keeping my fingers crossed that all goes well!
We could have built two modern aircraft carriers for the cost of that thing, and it’s still not finished. It should have been scrapped as soon as it went over budget, in my opinion.
link at https://www.technologyreview.com/s/410253/a-moon-based-telescope/
All of NASA’s rocket scientists, the folks who made NASA a success, have retired and mostly gone to that great range in the sky. Their minion gofers took over and being bureaucrats, did the only thing they were capable of doing, turning it into a bureaucratic money disposal!
laws of systemantics:
-complex/complicated systems in general work poorly or not at all
-new systems create new problems
-complicated systems produce unexpected outcomes
-the total behavior of large systems cannot be predicted
-complex systems tend to oppose their own proper function
-programs never run the first time
-complex programs never run (anything worth doing once will probable have to be done twice)
They would rather make sure everyone draws a paycheck to push paper and keep their contractors funded than actually do anything. NASA is always over budget and NEVER on time for any project. The new head of NASA needs to clean house of this infestation of bureaucrats and paper pushers and have a come to Jesus meeting with the contractors and let them know with Space X and the other private companies the days of bloated and over run contracts are over and make an example of two out of some contractors. Otherwise this agency needs to ride off into the sunset and its funds spent where they are getting results.
But if JWST succeeds it will be spectacular and probably provide enough valuable data to keep researchers busy for decades. This telescope is capable of mind bending discoveries if all goes well.
If they want more money, auction off telescope time to all the universities and research institutes (say $1,000 1/2 hour or whatever the going rate is).
The should be able to raise enough cash from their own community.
If they want more money, auction off telescope time to all the universities and research institutes (say $1,000 1/2 hour or whatever the going rate is).
The should be able to raise enough cash from their own community.
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