In a couple of days, eight tiny reindeer had better check their six if they’re anywhere near French Guiana in the 7 o’clock hour (EST). If their flight plan has them remotely nearby, they may just get caught on camera.
That’s because the entire space industry will be keenly watching the sky as the work of decades culminates, and takes flight on an Ariane 5 rocket.
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)
Credits: NASA/Chris Gunn
For the last quarter century, the astronomical and astrophysical communities have toiled away on a project you may have never even heard about. They’ve built, scrapped, re-designed and finally completed the successor to the vaunted Hubble telescope. And this successor is impressive.
Nearly tripling the lens size of Hubble, JWST will be able to observe the physical universe in a broader spectrum, promising to dramatically increase our understanding of our galaxy and the cosmos. It’s massive compared to Hubble. But size isn’t everything.
Even in the expanses of outer space, it’s all about location, location, location. For JWST, that means parking in a solar orbit at the Sun-Earth Lagrange (L2) point about 1 million miles from Earth. That position, more than four times distant than the moon, will allow JWST to orbit the sun in line with the Earth. That distance, and a really awesome sun shield, will keep the satellite protected from the light of the Sun, and it’s reflection from the Moon and Earth.
Keeping all that light away will help the satellite see further, and observe more detail in our night sky than humanity has ever accomplished before. But the distance means we won’t be able to just send a few Astronauts up to conduct repairs like the shuttle did for Hubble. Hence the quarter century of delays.
A Bumpy Road
JWTS has to be a survivor.
More than just a fiery ascent into the heavens stands in its way. After the shock of launch, the telescope will have to endure a substantial trip (30 days) to its intended orbit at L2. And even after it arrives, the struggle isn’t over. It will spend an estimated 5-10 years in temperatures around 50 Kelvin (that’s -370° F or -223° C).
For those of you wondering just how cold that is, I’d tell you that at those temperatures Midwestern males would no longer wear gym shorts with their hoodies. No way.
Those extreme environments – launch, transit, and operational orbit – all require a different type of survivability. It’s taken a long time to get to this point because the developers know they have to make this system resilient. After all, it’s beyond our current human spaceflight capabilities to send folks to L2.
How You Can Watch
By now you may know I love a good rocket launch. And this one should be pretty cool – if not the biggest, most powerful rocket. This one will stand out because of the unique way it’s bringing international partners together.
JWST is a partnership mission between NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency. That partnership is working hard to make sure people all over the globe can have a piece of the action. They’ll be hosting live coverage on NASA TV, Facebook, Twitter, Twitch, Space.com and Daily Motion.
If you think you’ll be able to pull away from presents for just a moment on Saturday, I’d encourage you to hop on one of those NASA channels and witness a little history in action. And who knows, you might see a few reindeer.
Part of the Possible 