JWST round 4

Dec 25, 2021 ... NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope launched at 7:20 a.m. EST Saturday on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, South America. A joint effort with ESA (European Space Agency) and the Canadian Space Agency, the Webb observatory is NASA’s revolutionary flagship mission to seek the light from the first galaxies in the early universe and to explore our own solar system, as well as planets orbiting other stars, called exoplanets. Arianespace's Ariane 5 rocket launches with NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope onboard, Saturday, Dec. 25, 2021, from the ELA-3 Launch Zone of Europe’s Spaceport at the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana. The James Webb Space Telescope (sometimes called JWST or Webb) is a large infrared telescope with a 21.3 foot (6.5 meter) primary mirror. The observatory will study every phase of cosmic history—from within our solar system to the most distant observable galaxies in the early universe. ... Ground teams began receiving telemetry data from Webb about five minutes after launch. The Arianespace Ariane 5 rocket performed as expected, separating from the observatory 27 minutes into the flight. The observatory was released at an altitude of approximately 870 miles (1,400 kilometers). Approximately 30 minutes after launch, Webb unfolded its solar array, and mission managers confirmed that the solar array was providing power to the observatory. After solar array deployment, mission operators will establish a communications link with the observatory via the Malindi ground station in Kenya, and ground control at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore will send the first commands to the spacecraft. ... NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope launched Dec. 25 at 7:20 a.m. EST on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, on the northeastern coast of South America. Webb, a partnership with the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency, will explore every... ... NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope launched at 7:20 a.m. EST on December 25, 2021 on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, South America. A camera fixed on the launch vehicle’s upper stage captured Webb’s separation from the launch vehicle at 7:47 a.m. EST....

# Webb's Launch Launched on December 25, 2021 from ESA's Spaceport in French Guiana. ... Webb was launched on on December 25, 2021 on board an Ariane 5 rocket from Ariane Space Spaceport in French Guiana. Webb was transported there by ship through the Panama Canal from Northrup's facility in California where it under went final integration and test. ... The James Webb Space Telescope was launched on an Ariane 5 rocket. The launch vehicle and launch site were part of the European Space Agency's contribution to the mission. The Ariane 5 is one of the world's most reliable launch vehicles and was chosen for a combination of reliability (it was the only launch vehicle that met NASA's requirements for launching a mission like Webb) and for the value it brought via our international partnership. Read more about why the Ariane 5 was chosen. ... Webb was launched from Arianespace's ELA-3 launch complex at Europe's Spaceport located near Kourou, French Guiana. It is beneficial for launch sites to be located near the equator - the spin of the Earth can help give an additional push. The surface of the Earth at the equator is moving at 1670 km/hr. ... NASA’s ... Arianespace's Ariane 5 rocket launches with NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope onboard, Saturday, Dec. 25, 2021, from the ELA-3 Launch Zone of Europe’s Spaceport at the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana. ... On December 25, 2021, and 7:20 AM ET (12:20 UTC), the James Webb Space Telescope was launched by an ArianeSpace Ariane 5 rocket from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana. The rocket and launch site were part of the European Space Agency's contribution to the mission.

ESA - Webb liftoff on Ariane 5 to unlock secrets of the Universe # Webb liftoff on Ariane 5 to unlock secrets of the Universe 25/12/2021 39944 views 147 likes The James Webb Space Telescope lifted off on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, at 13:20 CET on 25 December on its exciting mission to unlock the secrets of the Universe. Webb liftoff on Ariane 5, 25 December 2021 Following launch and separation from the rocket, Webb’s mission operations centre in Baltimore, USA confirmed Webb deployed its solar array and is in good condition, marking the launch a success. In the coming month, Webb, an international partnership between NASA, ESA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), will travel to its destination: the second Lagrange point (L2), where it will study the Universe in infrared. Webb’s journey to L2 ... The Webb observatory had to be carefully folded into the specially adapted Ariane 5 fairing for launch, which jettisoned away about three minutes after liftoff. Ariane 5 then began a special roll manoeuvre to protect Webb from the Sun’s radiation. After 27 minutes the telescope was released and the upper stage boosted away.

ESA - One year ago, a perfect launch for the James Webb Space Telescope The voice counted backwards in French from ten to one, then announced, “Décollage” – lift-off. The 15-year-long collaboration between NASA, ESA and the Canadian Space Agency had just entered its most critical phase: the launch itself. What happened next would determine whether the James Webb Space Telescope made it into space or not. ... “On the day of launch, the pressure was extremely high. We were very confident of our success because we had had basically 15 years of preparation, but still the pressure was high after a long launch campaign with a number of technical issues to solve,” says Daniel de Chambure, Head of the ESA Kourou Office, French Guiana, and previously Ariane 5’s Webb Project Manager. ... The hopes of a new generation of astronomers were riding in the nosecone of the ESA-provided Ariane 5 rocket that had just disappeared into the clouds above Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. The ascent itself ... scheduled to last about 30 minutes ... s job would be over ... solar panel, was generating its ... power, and talking ... . Daniel woke at 04:0 ... the pad. An ... and a half before launch, he ... main launch control room and ... The team followed the ascent and its various steps. First, the boosters were separated, then the fairing opened up into two halves to reveal Webb at an altitude of 110 km, then the first stage separated, the second stage ignited and later shut down. Finally, Ariane let go of Webb at an altitude of 1400 km. The camera on the rocket watched as the space telescope drifted away, making an adjustment to its trajectory as it went. A few minutes later, when it was precisely on its course, Webb automatically deployed its solar panel, and began communicating with Massimo’s team in Baltimore. Daniel and his team had done their job. ... In the several minutes it would take for Webb to calculate and execute its trajectory manoeuvre, it was assumed that the spacecraft would drift out of sight of the rocket’s camera, and the solar panel deployment would take place unseen. But 70 seconds after the separation, the solar panel deployed. In Kourou, the reason was obvious. Ariane’s launch has been so precise that the attitude correction manoeuvre was superfluous. Webb’s onboard software realised this and so it skipped to the next task on the list, which was to deploy the solar panel and make contact with Baltimore. It was a stunning confirmation of the accuracy of the launch. ... The extreme accuracy of the launch injection at separation was the result of some additional things that the Kourou team had done. First was the decision to calibrate the launcher’s Inertial Management Units (IMUs) as late as possible before the launch itself. These units return information about how the rocket is moving, and feed back into the onboard computations that control the guidance systems. Being so carefully calibrated, the Ariane 5 knew exactly where it was and where it was going. ... Beyond the trajectory, the team also made another special modification, this time to protect Webb itself. NASA was extremely concerned that any residual atmosphere in the nosecone could cause that air bubbles trapped into the folded sunshield could inflate and tear-off the telescope’s delicate sunshield layers. So, ESA developed a system that would force the final molecules of air out of the nosecone before the fairing split and exposed Webb to the vacuum of space. “This was also a great achievement for us to see that the residual pressure was well below requirements after several demonstrations carried out on previous Ariane 5 flights,” says Daniel. ... Massimo was on duty as they prepared for Mid-Course Correction 1a. This was the essential extra push to make sure Webb was going to successfully reach its designated position 1.5 million km away from Earth. To calculate the rocket burn necessary, Webb was tracked for almost 12 hours and then the flight dynamics team at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center crunched the numbers. That’s when the scale of Ariane’s achievement started to become truly obvious. ... When the calculations were completed, NASA announced that thanks to ESA and its contributing partners Arianespace, ArianeGroup and CNES, the lifetime of Webb was now double. Instead of a 10-year mission, Webb was carrying enough fuel to keep it operational for 20. Double the observations, double the science, double the discoveries. ... More informationWebb is the largest, most powerful telescope ever launched into space. Under an international collaboration agreement, ESA provided the telescope’s launch service, using the Ariane 5 launch vehicle. Working with partners, ESA was responsible for the development and qualification of Ariane 5 adaptations for the Webb mission and for the procurement of the launch service by Arianespace. ESA also provided the workhorse spectrograph NIRSpec and 50% of the mid-infrared instrument MIRI, which was designed and built by a consortium of nationally funded European Institutes (The MIRI European Consortium) in partnership with JPL and the University of Arizona. Webb is an international partnership between NASA, ESA and the Canadian Space Agency.

James Webb Space Telescope Launches on Journey to See the Dawn of Starlight (Published 2021) The New York Times

are involved? ... are involved? ... Webb was launched on an Arianespace Ariane 5 ECA rocket. The launch vehicle was part of the European contribution to the mission. Additional information may be obtained here. ... We chose Ariane in the early 2000's for a combination of reliability (it was the only launch vehicle that met NASA's requirements for launching a mission like Webb) and for the value it brought via our international partnership. By "value" we mean that the European Space Agency provided us a launch vehicle and associated services on a no exchange of funds basis. In exchange, NASA guaranteed European scientists a fraction of observing time on Webb (roughly 15%). Since architectural realities of Webb and international technology restrictions (plus industrial capabilities and strategic technology interests) meant we couldn't have a spacecraft bus or a sunshield or telescope parts from Europe, we asked for the launch vehicle, launch services and science instruments instead. ... Who are the ... in the Webb project ... NASA is the lead partner in Webb, with significant contributions from the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). Northrop Grumman was the main NASA industrial contractor, responsible for building the optical telescope, spacecraft bus, and sunshield, and for preparing the observatory for launch. NG was leading a team including two major sub-contractors: Ball Aerospace and Harris (formerly ITT-Exelis). The three principal beryllium mirror subcontractors to Ball Aerospace are Coherant (formerly Tinsley Laboratories), General Dynamics Global Imaging Technologies (formerly Axsys Technologies), and Materion (formerly Brush Wellman Inc.) The instrument complement was provided as follows: - The Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) was provided by a consortium of European countries and the European Space Agency (ESA) and the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) with detectors from Raytheon Vision Systems. - The Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) was provided by ESA. - The Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) was built by the University of Arizona working with Lockheed-Martin. - The Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS) were provided by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). - All of the near-infrared detectors were supplied by Teledyne Technologies, Inc. The launch vehicle and launch services were provided by ESA. The Science and Operations Center is located at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI). ... The Webb project has partners or contractors in 29 states and the ... of Columbia. In addition, in a program with the Girl Scouts of the USA, Webb has ... and Public Outreach activities in 41 states, the District of Columbia, Guam ... a US Air Force Base in Japan. ### Which countries are involved? Fourteen countries were involved in building the James Webb Space Telescope: Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. The launch of Webb took place in French Guiana, an overseas department of France located in South America. ... Webb is ... meaning that competitively ... proposals from around ... are used to develop the observing plans ... These proposals are judged by a peer review system ... in which teams of independent scientists rank the observing proposals according to scientific merit, ... the highest ranked proposals are selected ... The results of these studies are published in scientific journals, and the data is made available through ... Internet to other scientists and the ... public for further studies ... This is the same system that is used to schedule the Hubble Space Telescope and many other space and ground-based observatories ... Webb launched from Arianespace's ELA-3 complex at Europe's Spaceport located near Kourou, French Guiana, in South America. The launch site in Kourou, the launch vehicle, and the Ariane 5 rocket are a part of the European Space Agency (ESA) contribution to the mission.

## Webb is an International Collaboration including NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center managed the development effort. The main industrial partner is Northrop Grumman; the Space Telescope Science Institute operates Webb after launch. Thousands of scientists, engineers and technicians from 14 countries, 29 U.S. states, and Washington, D.C. contributed to the design, build, test, integration, launch, commissioning and operations of Webb. The International Team about Webb is an International Collaboration NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, or Webb, emerged from Chamber A at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston on Dec. 1, 2017. ... Webb was launched on Dec 25, 2 ... 21 on from French Guiana on an Arianne 5 rocket. Webb orbits the Sun 1.5 million kilometers from the Earth. ... Telescope would be named

Overview of the James Webb Space Telescope (Webb) mission ... Name The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST, or Webb) honours NASA's second administrator, James E. Webb, who headed the agency during part of the Apollo era, from February 1961 to October 1968. The mission was previously known as the Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST). Partnership Webb is a joint project between NASA, ESA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). Description Webb is a major space observatory often presented as the successor to the very successful NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope (HST, or Hubble). It has a large 6.5-metre segmented mirror that collects almost six times more light than Hubble. It has also been designed to work with infrared light. It addresses a broad variety of scientific topics ranging from detecting the first galaxies in the Universe to studying planets around other stars. ... Launch The telescope launched on 25 December 2021 on an Ariane 5 ECA rocket from ... 's Spaceport in French Gu ... European contribution The four major contributions of Europe to the mission are: the provision of the NIRSpec instrument; the provision of the MIRI instrument optical bench assembly; the provision of the launcher; and the provision of manpower to support Webb's operation. In return for these contributions, European scientists get a minimum share of 15% of the total observing time, like for Hubble.

Webb's primary mirror is 6.5 meters (21 feet 4 inches) across. Engineers determined that size was needed to measure the light from extremely distant galaxies. ... Each of the primary mirror's 18 hexagonal-shaped mirror segments is 1.32 meters (4.3 feet) in diameter, flat to flat. (Webb's circular secondary mirror is 0.74 meters in diameter.) The mirror segments are made of beryllium which gives them the required strength and light weight. Beryllium is very strong for its weight and is good at holding its shape across a range of temperatures Each mirror segment has a very thin coating of gold applied. Gold improves the mirror's reflection of infrared light. The gold layer is 1000 Angstroms (100 nanometers) in thickness. ... Webb Telescope's scientists and engineers determined that a primary mirror 6.5 meters (21 feet 4 inches) across is what was needed to measure the light from these distant galaxies. Building a mirror this large was challenging, even for use on the ground. A mirror this large had never before been launched into space! ... The Webb Telescope team decided to make the mirror segments from beryllium, which is both strong and light. Each segment weighs approximately 20 kilograms (46 pounds). ... The Webb Telescope team also decided to build the mirror in segments on a structure which folds up, like the leaves of a drop-leaf table, so that it can fit into a rocket. The mirror would then unfold after launch. Each of the 18 hexagonal-shaped mirror segments is 1.32 meters (4.3 feet) in diameter, flat to flat. (Webb's secondary mirror is 0.74 meters in diameter.) ... A team of experts was chosen to test both of these mirrors, to determine ... well they worked, how much they cost, and how easy (or difficult) it would be to build a full-size, 6.5- ... mirror. The experts recommended that the ... mirror be selected for the James Webb Space Telescope, for several reasons, one being that beryllium holds its shape at cryogenic temperatures. Based on the expert team's recommendation, Northrop Grumman (the company that led the effort to build Webb) selected a beryllium mirror, and the project management at NASA Goddard approved this decision. ... The beryllium to make Webb's mirror was mined in Utah and purified at Brush Wellman in Ohio. The particular type of beryllium used in the Webb mirrors is called O-30 and is a fine powder. The powder was placed into a stainless steel canister and pressed into a flat shape. Once the steel canister was removed, the resulting chunk of beryllium was cut in half to make two mirror blanks about 1.3 meters (4 feet) across. Each mirror blank was used to make one mirror segment; the full mirror is made from 18 hexagonal segments. ... Once a mirror segment's final shape is corrected for any imaging effects due to cold temperatures, and polishing is complete, a thin coating of gold is applied. Gold improves the mirror's reflection of infrared light. Some Technical Details: How is the gold applied to the mirrors? The answer is vacuum vapor deposition. Quantum Coating Incorporated did the coatings on our telescope mirrors. Essentially, the mirrors are put inside a vacuum chamber and a small quantity of gold is vaporized and it deposits on the mirror. Areas that we don't want coated (like the backside and all the mechanisms and such) are masked-off. Typical thickness of the gold is 1000 Angstroms (100 nanometers). A thin layer of amorphous SiO2 (glass) is deposited on top of the gold to protect it from scratches in case of handling or if particles get on the surface and move around (the gold is pure and very soft). This Behind the Webb video is about mirror coating.

- Total payload mass: about 6,200 kilograms (about 13,650 pounds on Earth) - Height of entire observatory: 8 meters (28 feet) - Size of sunshield: 21.2 meters by 14.2 meters (69.5 feet by 46.5 feet) - Diameter of primary mirror: 6.6 meters (21.7 feet) - Collecting area of primary mirror: 25.37 square meters (273.1 square feet) - Mass of primary mirror: 705 kilograms (1,555 pounds on Earth) ... | | Webb's Primary Mirror | Hubble's Primary Mirror | | --- | --- | --- | | Shape and Structure | Hexagonal, segmented (18 segments) | Circular, monolithic (single mirror) | | Material | Beryllium coated with gold | Glass coated with aluminum and magnesium fluoride | | Total Diameter | 6.6 m (21.7 ft) - 2.75 times Hubble | 2.4 m (7.8 ft) | | Total Collecting Area | 25.37 m 2 (273.1 ft 2) - 5.6 times Hubble | 4.55 m 2 (49 ft 2) | | Total Mirror Mass | 705 kg (1,555 pounds on Earth) | 825kg (1,825 pounds on Earth) | | Segment Diameter | 1.32 m (4.3 ft) | N/A | | Segment Area | 1.46 m 2 (15.7 ft 2) | N/A | | Segment Mass | Mirror on its own: about 20 kg (45 lbs); Full assembly: about 40 kg (90 lbs) | N/A | | Resolution | 0.03 arcsec at 0.6 µm | 0.05 arcsec at wavelengths near 0.5 µm | | Wavelength Range | 0.6 – 28.8 µm (red to mid-infrared) | 0.115 – 2.5 µm (near-ultraviolet to near-infrared) | ... Webb’s primary mirror consists of 18 separate, almost identical hexagonal segments, arranged in a larger hexagonal shape with one empty hexagon in the middle. Although each mirror segment is flat, when fully deployed and in operation, the full mirror is slightly concave. The orientation and precise shape (flatness) of each mirror segment can be adjusted independently in order to focus the light with sufficient precision onto the secondary mirror. ... Webb’s primary and secondary mirrors are composed of strong, light, and durable beryllium metal with a thin coating of gold to reflect infrared light. ... Each mirror segment is coated in a thin layer of gold roughly 100 nanometers (0.000004 inches) thick, or roughly 1/1000 the thickness of a sheet of paper. Gold is used instead of aluminum or silver because it reflects red to mid-infrared light extremely well. (Light that is absorbed by the mirror cannot be reflected into the instruments and will not appear in images or spectra.) The total amount of gold on the mirrors is only about 50 grams (less than 2 ounces, or about the mass of a golf ball), which would fit into a sphere the size of a marble.

PRIMARY MIRROR SIZE: 21.3 feet (6.5 meters) across MIRROR SHAPE: The mirror is comprised of 18 gold-plated hexagonal deployable segments SUNSHIELD: Webb’s five-layer deployable sunshield is the size of a tennis court INSTRUMENTS: Webb has four science instruments: Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec), Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), and Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS) with the Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS) WAVELENGTHS: Visible, Near Infrared, Mid Infrared (0.6-28.5 micrometers) TRAVEL DISTANCE: 1 million miles (1.5 million kilometers) from Earth LOCATION IN SPACE: Orbiting the Sun around the second Lagrange point (L2)

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has a shiny giant mirror made of gold hexagons. Here's why. Space

Webb's Mirrors science.nasa.gov

The sunshield is roughly the size of a tennis court. Actual dimensions: 21.197 m x 14.162 m (69.5 ft x 46.5 ft) The sunshield's 5 ... of Kapton ... The enormous (tennis-court sized), delicate (each layer 1-2 1000ths of an inch thick), 5 layer sunshield, was elaborately folded and secured to both fit in the rocket’s nose cone and be strong enough to survive the ride into space. ... The James Webb Space Telescope 3d ... . NASA/ GSFC CIL To protect the telescope from external sources of light and heat (like the Sun, Earth, and Moon) as well as from heat emitted by the observatory itself, Webb's 5-layer, tennis court-sized sunshield reduces the temperature between the hot and cold side of the spacecraft by approximately 570° Fahrenheit (299° Celsius) across its 5 layers. The actual dimensions: 21.197 m x 14.162 m (69.5 ft x 46.5 ft). ... of just a ... shield is cooler than the one ... big thick sun ... According to Keith Parrish ... 2 layers ... The 5 ... most effective trade off for creating a structure that supplied the required level of cooling and redundancy, while saving ... The sunshield consists of five layers, each layer is coated with aluminum, and the sun-facing side of the two hottest layers (designated Layer 1 and Layer 2) also have a "doped-silicon" (or treated silicon) coating to reflect the sun's heat back into space. The "doped silicon" gives layers 1 and 2 there distinct lavender/pink color. ... "The five layers are needed to block and re-direct enough heat to get the telescope down to required temperatures, with margin," Cooper said. "The fifth layer is mostly for margin against imperfections, micro-meteor ... holes, etc." The gap between the layers provides an additional insulating effect. Each layer of the sunshield is incredibly thin. Layer 1 faces the sun and is only 0.05 millimeters (0.002 inches) thick, while the other four layers are 0.025 mm (0.001 inches). The thickness of the aluminum and silicon coatings are even smaller. The silicon coating is ~50 nanometers (nm) (1.9 microinches) thick, while the aluminum coating is ~100 nm (3.93 microinches) thick. The layers are slightly different sizes and different shapes. Layer 5 (just under the primary mirror) is ... 1 is largest. Layer 1 is relatively flat and layer 5 is more curved. The layers are closer together at ... and further apart at the ... to direct heat from center to the outside of the layers ... In general, the layers are ... an inch or two to ... and around ... 0" apart from each other at the ... How do you prepare a mission critical subsystem that is tennis court sized, 5 layers, each thinner than a human hair and precision aligned on deployment to fit in a rocket, endure launch and deploy perfectly in zero G? This article documents the final sunshield preparations for launch.

# Sunshield Membrane Coatings Webb deployed a tennis-court sized Sunshield made of five thin layers of Kapton E with aluminum and doped-silicon coatings to reflect the sun's heat back into space. The sunshield's membrane layers, each as thin as a human hair, are made of Kapton, a tough, high-performance plastic coated with a reflective metal. ... To accomplish all of this, Webb deployed a tennis-court sized Sunshield made of five thin layers of Kapton E with aluminum and doped-silicon coatings to reflect the sun's heat back into space. The Kapton is a commercially available polyimide film from Dupont, while the coatings were applied to a specialized Webb specification. ... Each layer is coated with aluminum, and the sun-facing side of the two hottest layers (designated Layer 1 and Layer 2) also have a "doped-silicon" (or treated silicon) coating to reflect the sun's heat back into space. The sunshield is a critical part of the Webb telescope because the infrared cameras and instruments aboard must be kept very cold and out of the sun's heat and light to function properly. ... The size, position, spacing and shape of the Sunshield layers are also very important - more information on these aspects can be found on our sunshield page.

On Jan. 4, 2022, engineers successfully completed the deployment of the James Webb Space Telescope’s sunshield, seen here during its final deployment test on Earth in December 2020 at Northrop Grumman in Redondo Beach, California. The five-layer, tennis court-sized sunshield is essential for protecting the telescope from heat, allowing Webb’s instruments to cool down to the extremely low temperatures necessary to carry out its science goals. Credits: NASA/Chris Gunn The James Webb Space Telescope team has fully deployed the spacecraft’s 70-foot sunshield, a key milestone in preparing it for science operations. The sunshield – about the size of a tennis court at full size – was folded to fit inside the payload area of an Arianespace Ariane 5 rocket’s nose cone prior to launch. The Webb team began remotely deploying the sunshield Dec. 28, 2021, three days after launch. ... The five-layered sunshield will protect the telescope from the light and heat of the Sun, Earth, and Moon. Each plastic sheet is about as thin as a human hair and coated with reflective metal, providing protection on the order of more than SPF 1 million. Together, the five layers reduce exposure from the Sun from over 200 kilowatts of solar energy to a fraction of a watt.

These figures exclude the cost and schedule growth of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), NASA’s most expensive science project, in part because of its disproportionate effect on the portfolio average. Including the JWST in the calculation would increase the 2013 portfolio’s average development cost growth from 3.9 percent to 46.4 percent and would double the average launch delay, from 4 to 8 months and obscure the progress the rest of the portfolio has made toward maintaining cost and schedule baselines. Of the 12 projects in implementation, 9 reported no development cost growth and or launch schedule delay in the past year, but 2 of these are currently facing cost and/or schedule pressures. Three projects reported development cost growth or a launch delay, but for two projects the impetus was outside of the project's direct control. A number of factors appear to contribute to NASA's improved performance. For example, in prior reviews, a majority of projects exceeded their cost and schedule baselines. Most of these projects, however, have launched and are no longer affecting the portfolio. Consistent with prior recommendations, projects have also demonstrated some gains toward meeting best practices criteria for technology maturity and design stability. GAO has reported that conformity with these practices decreases cost and schedule risk. For example, 62 percent of the projects met technology maturity criteria this year as compared to 29 percent in 2010. Current projects also appear to be incorporating less technology risk, as the number of critical technologies per project has decreased from 4.7 in 2009 to 2.3 in 2013. NASA has also implemented new management practices that have likely contributed to improved performance, in part by increasing oversight. Continued leadership attention will be needed to ensure that good practices are maintained in the face of several challenges including: (1) managing competing priorities within the context of constrained budgets, (2) estimating costs associated with several large-scale projects, (3) improving overall cost and schedule estimation, and (4) using consistent and proven design stability metrics. ... Letter 1 Background 4 Observations on NASA’s Portfolio of Major Projects 9 Contributing Factors to the Portfolio’s Current Performance 13 Challenges Remain That Could Affect Continued Progress 23 Project Assessments 31 ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter 34 Global Precipitation Measurement Mission 36 Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite-2 38 James Webb Space Telescope 40 Landsat Data Continuity Mission 42 Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer 44 Magnetospheric Multiscale 46 Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN 48 Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2 50 Origins-Spectral Interpretation-ResourceIdentification-Security Regolith Explore 52 Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle 54 Radiation Belt Storm Probes 56 Soil Moisture Active and Passive 58 Solar Probe Plus 60 Space Launch System 62 Space Network Ground Segment Sustainment 64 Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy 66 Tracking and Data Relay Satellite Replenishment 68 Agency Comments and Our Evaluation 70 ... April 17, 2013 Congressional Committees This is GAO’s fifth annual assessment of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) major projects. This report provides a snapshot of how well NASA is planning and executing its major acquisitions—an area that has been on GAO’s high risk list since 1990. Over the past 5 years, our review has covered a range of projects, from highly complex and sophisticated space transportation vehicles, to robotic probes, to satellites equipped with advanced sensors to study the earth. During the last 2 years, NASA has launched eight projects, of which six have begun returning science results. For example, in June 2011, NASA launched the Aquarius project. The data returned from Aquarius made possible the first global map of the salinity of the ocean surface, which allows scientists to study how the ocean’s salinity influences Earth’s climate. The Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL), launched in September 2011, has created the most accurate gravity map of the Moon’s surface, allowing scientists to learn about the Moon’s internal structure and composition in unprecedented detail. NASA’s latest Mars rover, Curiosity, successfully landed and has begun beaming back images and data to scientists, such as the first indication that a stream once flowed vigorously across Mars. Notably, NASA has launched two missions in the last 2 years—GRAIL and Juno—within their established cost and schedule commitments. Despite these successes, the effects of the additional resources needed to support NASA’s largest science project—the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)—began to resonate as the project identified the need for an additional $1.4 billion from fiscal years 2012 through 2017. At the same time, NASA’s portfolio of major projects has decreased in size. For example, while eight science projects launched in the past 2 years and transitioned into operations, only two have entered the portfolio in that same period. One of those two projects, the ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter, was subsequently proposed for termination by NASA in 2012. The explanatory statement of the House Committee on Appropriations accompanying the Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009 directed GAO to prepare project status reports on selected large-scale NASA programs, projects, or activities. This report responds to that mandate. Specifically, we (1) assess the performance of NASA’s portfolio of major projects in terms of cost and schedule; (2) identify factors that have contributed to ... Table 1: 18 Selected Major NASA Projects Reviewed in GAO’s 2013 Annual Assessment Projects in formulation ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (EMTGO) a Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) Origins-Spectral Interpretation-Resource Identification-Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) Solar Probe Plus (SPP) Space Launch System (SLS) Space Network Ground Segment Sustainment (SGSS) b Projects in implementation Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Mission Ice, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite-2 (ICESat-2) James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM) c Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE) Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2 (OCO-2) Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP) c Soil Moisture Active and Passive (SMAP) Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) Replenishment K c and L d Source: GAO analysis of NASA data. aIn February 2012, NASA proposed canceling the EMTGO project as part of its fiscal year 2013 budget request.

If the Webb telescope sunshield doesn't open, here’s what NASA will do mashable.com

# Webb's Orbit Unlike Hubble which orbits earth at only a few hundred miles up, Webb orbits the Sun almost a million miles from Earth at a location known as L2. ... The James Webb Space Telescope is not in orbit around the Earth, like the Hubble Space Telescope is - it actually orbits the Sun, 1.5 million kilometers (1 million miles) away from the Earth at what is called the second Lagrange point or L2. What is special about this orbit is that it lets the telescope stay in line with the Earth as it moves around the Sun. This allows the satellite's large sunshield to protect the telescope from the light and heat of the Sun and Earth (and Moon). Webb orbits the sun 1.5 million kilometers (1 million miles) away from the Earth at what is called the second Lagrange point or L2. (Note that this graphic is not to scale.) ... Webb orbits around L2; it does not sit stationary precisely at L2. Roughly to scale; it is actually similar in size to the Moon's orbit around the Earth! This orbit (which takes Webb about 6 months to complete once) keeps the telescope out of the shadows of both the Earth and Moon. Unlike Hubble, which goes in and out of Earth shadow every 90 minutes, Webb has an unimpeded view that allows science operations 24/7. ... - The L1, L2, and L3 points are all in line with each other - and L4 and L5 are at the points of equilateral triangles. - The first Sun-Earth Lagrange point, L1, is 1.5 million km from the Earth towards the Sun, and there have been many solar observatories located here, including DSCOVR, WIND, SOHO, and ACE. - There have been other satellites out at Sun-Earth L2, where Webb is, including WMAP, Herschel, and Planck. ... This is why the telescope is out at the second Lagrange point. ... Webb's position out at L2 also makes it easy for us to talk to it. Since it is always at the same location relative to Earth-in the midnight sky about 1.5 million km away - we can have continuous communications with it as the Earth rotates through the Deep Space Network (DSN), using three large antennas on the ground located in Australia, Spain and California. During routine operations, Webb uplinks command sequences and downlinks data up to twice per day, through the DSN. The observatory can perform a sequence of commands (pointing and observations) autonomously. Typically, the Space Telescope Science Institute uploads a full week's worth of commands at a time, and makes updates daily as needed.

The James Webb Space Telescope orbits the Sun near Sun-Earth Lagrange point 2 (L2), approximately 1.5 million kilometers (1 million miles) from Earth. L2 is one of five Sun-Earth Lagrange points, positions in space where the gravitational pull of the Sun and Earth combine such that small objects in that region have the same orbital period (length of year) as Earth. This makes it possible for Webb to remain in constant communication with Earth. Webb is not located at L2, but instead orbits L2, completing one circuit every 168 days. This "halo orbit" around L2 is highly elliptical and is roughly perpendicular to its orbital path around the Sun. The distance between Webb and L2 varies between about 250,000 and 830,000 kilometers (150,000 - 500,000 miles). Because of this complex orbit, Webb's precise distance from Earth varies over time.

Partnership Webb is a joint project between NASA, ESA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). ... Journey and orbit Since launch and one month on a transfer trajectory, the observatory has operated at approximately 1.5 million kilometres from Earth, in an orbit around the second Lagrange point of the Sun-Earth system, L2.

- Launch: December 25, 2021 - Status: Operational at Lagrange 2 ... - Instruments: In addition to the Canadian-made scientific instrument ... , the Webb Telescope houses three other partner-contributed scientific instruments: NIRCam(NASA), NIRSpec(European Space Agency [ESA]) and MIRI(NASA/ESA). ... In addition to orbiting the Sun, Webb makes a tight orbit around a point in space known as Lagrange 2, or L2. This point is located 1.5 million kilometres from Earth. Its distant location gives Webb an unobstructed view of the sky, and aids its ability to see much farther into the universe than the Hubble Space Telescope. ... The graphic illustrates the second Lagrange point, or L2, which is 1.5 million kilometres from Earth, opposite the Sun. The Sun and Earth are 150 million kilometres apart. The Webb Telescope orbits the Sun at a position called L2, located 1.5 million kilometres from Earth. (Credits: ESA, CSA) ... Webb is an international collaboration between NASA, ESA and the CSA.

The James Webb Space Telescope, also called Webb or JWST, is a large, space-based observatory, optimized for infrared wavelengths, which complements and extends the discoveries of the Hubble Space Telescope. It has longer wavelength coverage and greatly improved sensitivity. The longer wavelengths enable Webb to look further back in time to find the first galaxies that formed in the early Universe, and to peer inside dust clouds where stars and planetary systems are forming today. ... Webb is designed to look deeper into space to see the earliest stars and galaxies that formed in the Universe and to look deep into nearby dust clouds to study the formation of stars and planets. In order to do this, Webb has a much larger primary mirror than Hubble (2.7 times larger in diameter, or about 6 times larger in area), giving it more light-gathering power. It also has infrared instruments with longer wavelength coverage and greatly improved sensitivity than Hubble. Finally, Webb operates much farther from Earth, maintaining its extremely cold operating temperature, stable pointing and higher observing efficiency than with the Earth-orbiting Hubble. This page contrasts Webb vs Hubble. ... The most important size of a telescope is the diameter of the primary mirror, which is approximately 6.5 meter (21.3 ft) for Webb. This is about 2.75 times larger in diameter than Hubble, or about 6 times larger in area. The Webb has a mass of approximately 6,500 kg, with a weight of 14,300 lbs on Earth (in orbit, everything is weightless), a little more than half the mass of Hubble. The largest structure of Webb is its sunshade, which must be able to shield the deployed primary mirror and the tower that holds the ... of a tennis court. ... Webb requires a distant orbit for several reasons. Webb observes primarily the infrared light from faint and very distant objects. Infrared is heat radiation, so all warm things, including telescopes, emit infrared light. To avoid swamping the very faint astronomical signals with radiation from the telescope, the telescope and its instruments must be very cold. Webb's operating temperature is less than 50 degrees above absolute zero: 50 Kelvin (-223° C or -370° F). Therefore, Webb has a large shield that blocks the light from the Sun and Earth (and the Moon), which otherwise would heat up the telescope, and interfere with the observations. Webb was placed in orbit around the Sun at a special location where its sunshield can block both the Sun and Earth (and Moon) all the time.; the second Lagrange point (L2) of the Sun-Earth system has this property. L2 is a semi-stable point in the gravitational potential around the Sun and Earth. The L2 point lies outside Earth's orbit while it is going around the Sun, keeping all three in a line at all times. The combined gravitational forces of the Sun and the Earth can almost hold a spacecraft at this point, and it takes relatively little fuel to keep the spacecraft near L2. The cold and stable temperature environment of the L2 point will allow Webb to make the very sensitive infrared observations needed. ... There has been a lot of progress in technology since Hubble was built. The ... example of weight reduction is the primary mirror, which takes up a considerable fraction of the total observatory mass. The mirror has to be very accurately shaped. Any variations from the perfect shape of the mirror have to be less than a fraction of the observing wavelengths, which start at about 0.1 micrometer (in the ultraviolet) for Hubble and 0.6 micrometer (gold light) for Webb. (For comparison, the average thickness of a human hair is about 100 micrometers.) To keep the mirror in such a perfect shape, Hubble has a thick, solid glass mirror with a mass around 1000 kg (2200 lbs on ... s mirror consists of 18 thin, lightweight beryllium mirror segments, which are kept in the right shape and place by a large number of adjustors attached to a stiff backing frame. Including the backing frame ... the 18 segments of the Webb primary mirror total about 625 kg (1375 lb on Earth). These kinds of technologies, which were not available at the time Hubble was built, will be used throughout Webb. Here is a pictoral comparison of the Hubble and Webb mirrors. ... Webb needed to have an unfolding mirror because the mirror is so large that it otherwise could not fit in the launch shroud of available rockets at the time. The mirror had to be large in order to see the faint light from the first star-forming regions and to see very small details at infrared wavelengths. Designing, building and operating a mirror that unfolds is one of the major technological developments of Webb. Unfolding mirrors will be necessary for future missions requiring even larger mirrors, and will find application in other scientific, civil and military space missions. ... The primary goals of Webb are to study galaxy, star and planet formation in the Universe. To see the very first stars and galaxies form in the early Universe, we have to look deep into space to look back in time (because it takes light time to travel from there to here, the farther out we look, the further we look back in time). The Universe is expanding, and therefore the farther we look, the faster objects are moving away from us, redshifting the light. Redshift means that light that is emitted as ... or visible light is shifted more and more to redder wavelengths, into the near- and mid-infrared part of the light spectrum for very high redshifts. Therefore, to study the earliest star formation in the Universe, we have to observe infrared light and use a telescope and instruments optimized for this light. Star and planet formation in the local Universe takes place in the centers of dense, dusty clouds, obscured from our eyes at normal visible wavelengths. Near-infrared light, with its longer wavelength, is less hindered by the small dust particles, allowing near-infrared light to escape from the dust clouds. By observing the emitted near-infrared light we can penetrate the dust and see the processes leading to star and planet formation. Objects of about Earth's temperature emit most of their radiation at mid-infrared wavelengths. These temperatures are also found in dusty regions forming stars and planets, so with mid-infrared radiation we can see the glow of the star and planet formation taking place. An infrared-optimized telescope allows us to penetrate dust clouds to see the birthplaces of stars and planets. ... Webb works from 0.6 to 28 micrometers, ranging from visible orange-colored light through the invisible mid-infrared. The short wavelength end is set by the gold coating on the primary mirror. The long wavelength cut-off is set by the sensitivity of the detectors in the Mid-Infrared Instrument. ... Webb is designed to discover and study the first stars and galaxies that formed in the early Universe. To see these faint objects, it must be able to detect things that are ten billion times as faint as the faintest stars visible without a telescope. This is 10 to 100 times fainter than Hubble can see. ... - Determine how galaxies evolved from their formation until the present. - Observe the formation of stars from the first stages to the formation of planetary systems. - Measure the physical and chemical properties of planetary systems and investigate the potential for life in those systems. ... have a redshift ... 5 or more ... Infrared radiation is one of ... many types of 'light' that comprise the electromagnetic spectrum. Infrared light is characterized by wavelengths that are longer than visible light (400-700 nanometers, or 0.4-0.7 micrometers; also denoted as microns). Astronomers generally divide the infrared portion of the electromagnetic spectrum into three regions: near-infrared (0.7-5 micrometers), mid-infrared (5-30 micrometers) and far infrared (30-1000 micrometers). Webb is sensitive to near-infrared and mid ... infrared radiation.

Science discoveries made by the James Webb Space Telescope are expected to revolutionize our understanding of the cosmos and our origins within the universe. Webb’s large mirror, near- to mid-infrared sensitivity, and high-resolution imaging and spectroscopic capabilities will reveal parts of the universe hidden to our eyes, such as stars among clouds of dusts, water in the atmospheres of other worlds, and light from the first galaxies that ever formed. ... - Search for the first galaxies that formed in the early Universe - Study galaxies near and far to inform the evolution of galaxies - Observe the formation of stars, from the first stellar nurseries to the formation of planetary systems - Measure physical and chemical properties of planetary systems, including our own solar system, and investigate the potential for life in those systems ... The James Webb Space Telescope is equipped with specialized instruments that detect near-infrared and mid-infrared wavelengths, the light just beyond the red end of the visible spectrum. It holds the key to understanding the early universe, galactic evolution, stellar birth, and atmospheric compositions. With its longer wavelengths, infrared radiation can penetrate dense molecular clouds, whose dust block most of the light detectable by the Hubble Space Telescope’s instruments. Learn more about infrared astronomy. ... Webb is designed to study all stages and ages of galactic evolution. Webb will capture light from the first galaxies in their nascent stages of development; measure star formation rates within galaxies near and far; and create detailed maps of gas, dust, and even dark matter in our local universe. Webb’s studies are designed to help us understand the diversity of galaxy composition and structure over space and time; how galaxies form, interact, and change; and how supermassive black holes and their host galaxies influence each other. ... The center of the Milky Way galaxy, hidden to optical telescopes by clouds of dust, will be penetrated by Webb’s infrared instruments. Get the full Milky Way Galaxy image. ... Webb’s near-infrared wavelengths can look into dusty stellar nurseries to study very young stars. Webb’s mid-infrared wavelengths will study the dust itself, and how those environments contribute to the formation, evolution, and diversity of stars and planetary systems. It will also analyze the composition and structure of the interstellar medium, cold molecular clouds that collapse to form stars, and the gas and dust ejected from dying stars. Webb’s observations are designed to answer questions surrounding star formation and evolution, stellar populations, star diversity, interactions between stars and their environment, and relationships between stars and planets. ... One of Webb’s most anticipated contributions to astronomy will be the study of exoplanets—planets orbiting distant stars. ... Webb expands on the work of other observatories like Kepler, TESS, Hubble, and ALMA in detecting and characterizing fully-grown planets, planets in the process of forming, and proto-planetary disks orbiting other stars in the Milky Way. Webb will image debris disks and large planets far from their host stars using its coronographs; will detect and help in modelling the composition and temperature structure of exoplanet atmospheres; and will help astronomers understand the influence of host stars on their planets. These studies provide insight into the diversity, formation, evolution, and potential habitability of planets and planetary systems in our galaxy. ... Webb’s infrared capabilities will allow astronomers to characterize the surfaces and atmospheres of planets, moons, comets, asteroids, and Kuiper Belt objects in the outer solar system (beyond the orbit of Earth). These studies are designed to help us better understand the origin and evolution of rocky, icy, and gas-rich objects in our solar system, which also serve as a benchmark for comparison to objects orbiting other stars, like exoplanets. They also will help astronomers understand how the weather and atmospheres of planetary bodies, both past and present, compare to that of Earth, potentially unlocking clues to the origins of our planet and life as we know it.

One of the James Webb Space Telescope's science goals is to look back through time to when galaxies were young. Webb does this by observing galaxies that are very distant, at over 13 billion light years away from us. To see such far-off and faint objects, Webb needs a large mirror. A telescope’s sensitivity, or how much detail it can see, is directly related to the size of the mirror area that collects light from the objects being observed. A larger area collects more light, just like a larger bucket collects more water in a rain shower than a small one. Quick Facts Video: Mirrors Overview Webb's Four Mirrors What Kind of Telescope is Webb? Engineering Challenges Folding Mirrors Keeping Webb's Mirrors Cold Why Hexagonal? In Depth: Materials/Methods Aligning the Mirrors ... Webb's primary mirror is 6.5 meters (21 feet 4 inches) across. Engineers determined that size was needed to measure the light from extremely distant galaxies. ... Each mirror segment has a very thin coating of gold applied. Gold improves the mirror's reflection of infrared light. The gold layer is 1000 Angstroms (100 nanometers) in thickness. ... Webb is known for it's iconic hexagonally segemented golden primary mirror but there are 3 other mirrors in Webb's optics that all function together to bring light to Webb's instruments (see the overview video for an animation of this concept). The 18 hexagonal primary miror segements are precisely aligned to act as one large concave primary mirror which first gathers light and focuses it onto the round convex secondary mirror that lies at the end of Webb's long folding booms. The secondary mirror reflects the light back to the concave rectangular tertiery mirror which reflects it to the flat fine steering mirror from which light travels into Webb's instruments. ... Webb Telescope's scientists and engineers determined that a primary mirror 6.5 meters (21 feet 4 inches) across is what was needed to measure the light from these distant galaxies. Building a mirror this large was challenging, even for use on the ground. A mirror this large had never before been launched into space! ... One further challenge is to keep Webb's mirror cold. To see the first stars and galaxies in the early Universe, astronomers have to observe the infrared light given off by them, and use a telescope and instruments optimized for this light. Because warm objects give off infrared light, or heat, if Webb's mirror was the same temperature as the Hubble Space Telescope's, the faint infrared light from distant galaxies would be lost in the infrared glow of the mirror. Thus, Webb needs to be very cold ("cryogenic"), with its mirrors at around -220 degrees C (-364 degree F). The mirror as a whole must be able to withstand very cold temperatures as well as hold its shape. ... These corrections were made through a process called wavefront sensing and control, which aligns the mirrors to within tens of nanometers. During this process, a wavefront sensor (NIRCam in this case) measured any imperfections in the alignment of the mirror segments that prevented them from acting like a single, 6.5-meter (21.3-foot) mirror. Engineers used NIRCam to take 18 out-of-focus images of a star - one from each mirror segment. The engineers then used computer algorithms to determine the overall shape of the primary mirror from those individual images, and determined how they must move the mirrors to align them. This video describes the mirror alignment process.

The James Webb Space Telescope is the largest, most complex observatory sent into space. Webb’s innovative design tackles the two main challenges for an infrared telescope: It needs a very large mirror to collect enough light, and it has to be kept cold to keep unwanted sources of infrared from interfering with the light being observed. Webb’s key components include an enormous primary mirror to collect infrared light, a supersized sunshield to keep the telescope cold, and four scientific instruments to conduct its ambitious science operations. ... - Total payload mass: about 6,200 kilograms (about 13,650 pounds on Earth) - Height of entire observatory: 8 meters (28 feet) - Size of sunshield: 21.2 meters by 14.2 meters (69.5 feet by 46.5 feet) - Diameter of primary mirror: 6.6 meters (21.7 feet) - Collecting area of primary mirror: 25.37 square meters (273.1 square feet) - Mass of primary mirror: 705 kilograms (1,555 pounds on Earth) In terms of light-gathering capability, the most important component of a telescope is its primary mirror. The larger the mirror, the more light it can collect, and the smaller, dimmer, and more distant objects it can detect. Webb’s mirror has an area more than 5 times greater than Hubble’s and 45 times greater than Spitzer’s. Get the full comparison diagram. Credit: STScI. ... Webb’s extraordinary ability to capture high-resolution images and spectra from extremely dim or distant objects is a function of the size and construction of its primary mirror. ... 's Primary ... s Primary Mirror | | --- | --- | --- | | Shape and Structure | Hexagonal, segmented (18 segments) | Circular, monolithic (single mirror) | | Material | Beryllium coated with gold | Glass coated with aluminum and magnesium fluoride | | Total Diameter | 6.6 m (21.7 ft) - 2.75 times Hubble | 2.4 m (7.8 ft) | | Total Collecting Area | 25.37 m 2 (273.1 ft 2) - 5.6 times Hubble | 4.55 m 2 (49 ft 2) | | Total Mirror Mass | 705 kg (1,555 pounds on Earth) | 825kg (1,825 pounds on Earth) | | Segment Diameter | 1.32 m (4.3 ft) | N/A | | Segment Area | 1.46 m 2 (15.7 ft 2) | N/A | | Segment Mass | Mirror on its own: about 20 kg (45 lbs); Full assembly: about 40 kg (90 lbs) | N/A | | Resolution | 0.03 arcsec at 0.6 µm | 0.05 arcsec at wavelengths near 0.5 µm | | Wavelength Range | 0.6 – 28.8 µm (red to mid-infrared) | 0.115 – 2.5 µm (near-ult ... The purpose of Webb’s 6.6-meter primary mirror is to collect infrared light traveling through space. The main component of any visible or infrared telescope is the primary mirror. Webb’s primary mirror intercepts red and infrared light (0.6—28.8 microns) and reflects it onto a smaller secondary mirror, which then directs the light into the scientific instruments where it is recorded. ... The primary mirror can be thought of as a “light bucket” whose power is a function of size in terms of collecting area (the total amount of area that reflects light onto the secondary mirror). The larger a mirror is, the more light it can collect over a given period of time. A larger mirror can therefore detect dimmer or more distant objects (i.e., it has higher sensitivity), and provide clearer, more detailed images and spectra (higher resolution) than a smaller mirror of the same construction. With a diameter of 6.6 meters (21.7 feet) and a collecting area of 25 square meters (270 square feet), Webb’s mirror is large enough to detect the faint infrared light of galaxies more than 13.5 billion light-years away. ... Webb’s mirrors and instruments are designed to have the wavelength range, sensitivity, and resolution to detect extremely faint red to mid-infrared light to capture detailed images and spectra from objects as close as Mars to as distant as 13.5 billion light-years. Wavelength range is a measure of the specific wavelengths of light (colors) that a telescope is designed to detect. Wavelength range determines the types of objects and materials it can detect and the questions that it can be used to answer. Webb’s mirrors and instruments are designed to collect and detect light ranging from 0.6—28.8 microns (600—28,800 nanometers), which includes visible red, near-infrared, and mid-infrared light. ... To capture infrared light from faint and distant objects, Webb’s instruments must be protected from the bright visible and infrared light of the Sun, Earth, and Moon. ... About 39% of the sky is potentially visible to Webb at any given time. Over the course of 6 months, Webb has a view of almost the entire sky (i.e., the ability to point in almost every direction). Two small regions of the sky known as Continuous Viewing Zones (CVZs) can be observed at any time. Because Webb must face away from objects that are warm enough and close enough to interfere with its ability to observe faint infrared light, it cannot observe the Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, or the Moon. (It can observe the parts of the Solar System that are beyond its orbit, including Mars, the asteroid belt, the outer planets, and the Kuiper Belt.) ... Webb has two sides, divided by its sunshield: a hot side facing the Sun and Earth, and a cold side facing out into space, away from the Sun and Earth. The solar panels, communications antenna, navigation system, and electronic systems reside on the hot side facing the Sun and Earth. The mirrors and scientific instruments, which are very sensitive to infrared radiation, are housed on the cold side, where they are protected by the sunshield. Get the full spacecraft diagram. Credit: STScI.

This Week At NASA James Webb Space Telescope And More SpaceRef

Jul 12, 2022 ... The dawn of a new era in astronomy is here as the world gets its first look at the full capabilities of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, a partnership with ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency). The full set of the telescope’s first full-color images and spectroscopic data, which uncover a collection of cosmic features elusive until now, released Tuesday, are available at: ... NASA revealed the first five full-color images and spectrographic data from the world’s most powerful space telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope, a partnership with ESA (European Space Agency), and CSA (Canadian Space Agency). The world got its first look at the full capabilities of the mission at a live event streamed from the agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, on July 12, 2022. Credits: NASA ... - SMACS 0723: Webb has delivered the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe so far – and in only 12.5 hours. For a person standing on Earth looking up, the field of view for this new image, a color composite of multiple exposures each about two hours long, is approximately the size of a grain of sand held at arm’s length. This deep field uses a lensing galaxy cluster to find some of the most distant galaxies ever detected. This image only scratches the surface of Webb’s capabilities in studying deep fields and tracing galaxies back to the beginning of cosmic time. ... - Southern Ring Nebula: This planetary nebula, an expanding cloud of gas that surrounds a dying star, is approximately 2,000 light years away. Here, Webb’s powerful infrared eyes bring a second dying star into full view for the first time. From birth to death as a planetary nebula, Webb can explore the expelling shells of dust and gas of aging stars that may one day become a new star or planet. ... - Carina Nebula: Webb’s look at the ‘Cosmic Cliffs’ in the Carina Nebula unveils the earliest, rapid phases of star formation that were previously hidden. Looking at this star-forming region in the southern constellation Carina, as well as others like it, Webb can see newly forming stars and study the gas and dust that made them. ... The release of Webb’ ... kicks off the beginning of Webb’s science operations, where astronomers around the world will have their chance to observe anything from objects within our solar system to the early universe using Webb’s four instruments. The James Webb Space Telescope launched Dec. 25, 2021, on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, South America. After completing a complex deployment sequence in space, Webb underwent months of commissioning where its mirrors were aligned, and its instruments were calibrated to its space environment and prepared for science. ... The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s premier space science observatory. Webb will solve mysteries in our solar system, look beyond to distant worlds around other stars and probe the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. ... , including downloadable files, visit:

# Webb's First Images ## Released July 2022 ## Webb's First Images: Webb's very first science images were released by NASA in July 2022. Mission scientists and engineers demonstrated Webb’s unprecedented capabilities with the telescope’s first collection of data and full-color images, previewing the future of infrared astronomy. The articles below contain the story behind each image and links to high resolution version of the images. ... - ### NASA’s Webb Reveals Steamy Atmosphere of Distant Planet in Detail NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured the distinct signature of water, along with evidence for clouds and haze, in the atmosphere surrounding a hot, puffy gas giant planet orbiting a distant Sun-like star. The observation, which reveals the presence of specific gas molecules based on tiny decreases in the brightness of precise colors of light, is the most detailed of its kind to date, demonstrating Webb’s unprecedented ability to analyze atmospheres hundreds of light-years away. Explore A transmission spectrum made from a single observation using Webb’s Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS) reveals atmospheric characteristics of the hot gas giant exoplanet WASP-96 b. NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI

12 July 2022 ... The dawn of a new era in astronomy has begun as the world gets its first look at the full capabilities of the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope. The telescope’s first full-colour images and spectroscopic data, which uncover a spectacular collection of cosmic features that have remained elusive until now, were released today. ... - SMACS 0723: Webb has delivered the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant Universe so far – and in only 12.5 hours. This new image, a colour composite of multiple exposures each about two hours long, is approximately the size of a grain of sand held at arm’s length. This deep field uses a lensing galaxy cluster to find some of the most distant galaxies ever detected. This image only scratches the surface of Webb’s capabilities in studying deep fields and tracing galaxies back to the beginning of cosmic time. - WASP-96b: Webb’s detailed observation of this hot, puffy planet outside our solar system reveals the clear signature of water, along with evidence of haze and clouds that previous studies of this planet did not detect. With Webb’s first detection of water in the atmosphere of an exoplanet, it will now set out to study hundreds of other systems to understand what other planetary atmospheres are made of. ... The release of Webb’s first images and spectra kicks off the beginning of Webb’s science operations, where astronomers around the world will have their chance to observe anything from objects within our Solar System to the early Universe using Webb’s four instruments. The James Webb Space Telescope launched on 25 December 2021, on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, South America. After completing the most complex and difficult deployment sequence in space, Webb underwent months of commissioning where its mirrors were painstakingly aligned, and its instruments were calibrated to its space environment and prepared for science. The James Webb Space Telescope is the world's premier space science observatory. Webb will solve mysteries in our solar system, look beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probe the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and the Canadian Space Agency.

Jul 12, 2022 ... The dawn of a new era in astronomy has begun as the world gets its first look at the full capabilities of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, a partnership with ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency). All of the telescope’s first full-color images and spectroscopic data, which uncover a collection of cosmic features that have remained elusive until now, released Tuesday, are available at: ... Webb’s first observations were selected by a group of representatives from NASA, ESA, CSA, and the Space Telescope Science Institute. They reveal the capabilities of all four of Webb's state-of-the-art scientific instruments: - SMACS 0723: Webb has delivered the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe so far – and in only 12.5 hours. This new image, a color composite of multiple exposures each about two hours long, is approximately the size of a grain of sand held at arm’s length. This deep field uses a lensing galaxy cluster to find some of the most distant galaxies ever detected. This image only scratches the surface of Webb’s capabilities in studying deep fields and tracing galaxies back to the beginning of cosmic time. - WASP-96b(spectrum): Webb’s detailed observation of this hot, puffy planet outside our solar system reveals the clear signature of water, along with evidence of haze and clouds that previous studies of this planet did not detect. With Webb’s first detection of water in the atmosphere of an exoplanet, it will now set out to study hundreds of other systems to understand what other planetary atmospheres are made of. ... The release of Webb’s first images and spectra kicks off the beginning of Webb’s science operations, where astronomers around the world will have their chance to observe anything from objects within our solar system to the early universe using Webb’s four instruments. ... The James Webb Space Telescope launched Dec. 25, 2021, on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, South America. After completing a complex deployment sequence in space, Webb underwent months of commissioning where its mirrors were aligned, and its instruments were calibrated to its space environment and prepared for science. The James Webb Space Telescope is the world's premier space science observatory. Webb will solve mysteries in our solar system, look beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probe the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and the Canadian Space Agency. NASA Headquarters oversees the mission for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate. NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages Webb for the agency and oversees work on the mission performed by the Space Telescope Science Institute, Northrop Grumman, and other mission partners. In addition to Goddard, several NASA centers contributed to the project, including the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, and others.

NASA to showcase Webb space telescope's first full-color images Reuters

Webb is the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It studies every phase in the history of our Universe. Webb studies every phase in the history of our Universe, ranging from the first luminous glows after the Big Bang, to the formation of solar systems capable of supporting life on planets like Earth, to the evolution of our own Solar System. Webb launched on Dec. 25th 2021. It does not orbit around the Earth like the Hubble Space Telescope, it orbits the Sun 1.5 million kilometers (1 million miles) away from the Earth at what is called the second Lagrange point or L2. ... the infrared radiation of the Sun ... , and Moon; ... 1 million. ... Optimal Optics NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is the largest and most powerful telescope ever launched to space. Its mirror is composed… ... Webb is the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It studies every phase in the history of our Universe, ranging from the first luminous glows after the Big Bang, to the formation of solar systems capable of supporting life on planets like Earth, to the evolution of our own Solar System. ... The Webb Space Telescope is the largest, most powerful and most complex telescope ever launched into space . It's design and development history stretches back before the Hubble Space Telescope was launched. Learn about the design, the major components and subsystems of Webb and see Webb in 3d in a 3d Solar System.

### James Webb Space Telescope NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is the largest and most powerful observatory ever launched. Webb observes the cosmos in infrared using highly sensitive instruments designed to solve mysteries in our solar system, look beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and detect the first galaxies born after the big bang. Launched: December 25, 2021 ... NASA's Spitzer ... Spitzer’s discoveries were enabled ... wide range of cosmic targets, including some of ... , hidden stellar nurseries in our home galaxy,

# About Webb Webb is the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It studies every phase in the history of our Universe, ranging from the first luminous glows after the Big Bang, to the formation of solar systems capable of supporting life on planets like Earth, to the evolution of our own Solar System. ## ... the telescope from the infrared radiation of the Sun, Earth, and Moon; like having sun protection of SPF 1 million. ... ## Webb is a Time Machine With unprecedented infrared sensitivity, it will peer back in time over 13.5 billion years to see the first galaxies born after the Big Bang. ## Webb is the largest telescope ever placed in space. 100 times more powerful than Hubble. Webb is designed to look deeper into space to see the earliest stars and galaxies that formed in the universe and to look deep into nearby dust clouds to study the formation of stars and planets. Webb vs Hubble about Webb is the largest telescope ever placed in space. ... Webb was launched on Dec 25, 2021 on from French Guiana on an Arianne 5 rocket. Webb orbits the Sun 1.5 million kilometers from the Earth. ... ## Hot Side/ Cold Side Webb's innovative 5 layer sunshield protects the telescope from the infrared radiation of the Sun, Earth, and Moon. Temperatures on the hot side can be as high as 185F (85C) while the cold side is approximately -388F ( -233C) and the coldest instrument, MIRI, operates only several degrees above absolute zero at 7 K (-266° C or -447° F). ... Several innovative technologies were developed for Webb. These include a primary mirror made of 18 separate segments that unfold and adjust to shape after launch. The mirrors are made of ultra-lightweight beryllium. Webb’s biggest feature is a tennis court sized five-layer sunshield that attenuates heat from the Sun more than a million times. The telescope’s four instruments – cameras and spectrometers – have detectors that are able to record extremely faint signals. One instrument (NIRSpec) has programmable microshutters, which enable observation up to 100 objects simultaneously. Webb also has a cryocooler for cooling the mid-infrared detectors of another instrument (MIRI)to a very cold 7 K to operate properly. Folding Deployable Mirrors

The James Webb Space Telescope, also called Webb or JWST, is a large, space-based observatory, optimized for infrared wavelengths, which complements and extends the discoveries of the Hubble Space Telescope. It has longer wavelength coverage and greatly improved sensitivity. The longer wavelengths enable Webb to look further back in time to find the first galaxies that formed in the early Universe, and to peer inside dust clouds where stars and planetary systems are forming today. ... Webb is designed to look deeper into space to see the earliest stars and galaxies that formed in the Universe and to look deep into nearby dust clouds to study the formation of stars and planets. In order to do this, Webb has a much larger primary mirror than Hubble (2.7 times larger in diameter, or about 6 times larger in area), giving it more light-gathering power. It also has infrared instruments with longer wavelength coverage and greatly improved sensitivity than Hubble. Finally, Webb operates much farther from Earth, maintaining its extremely cold operating temperature, stable pointing and higher observing efficiency than with the Earth-orbiting Hubble. This page contrasts Webb vs Hubble. ... Webb was launched on December 25th, 2021 at 7:20 AM (12:20 UTC). ... b was launched on an Arianespace ... 5 ECA rocket. The launch vehicle was part of the ... contribution to the mission. ... Webb requires a distant orbit for several reasons. Webb observes primarily the infrared light from faint and very distant objects. Infrared is heat radiation, so all warm things, including telescopes, emit infrared light. To avoid swamping the very faint astronomical signals with radiation from the telescope, the telescope and its instruments must be very cold. Webb's operating temperature is less than 50 degrees above absolute zero: 50 Kelvin (-223° C or -370° F). Therefore, Webb has a large shield that blocks the light from the Sun and Earth (and the Moon), which otherwise would heat up the telescope, and interfere with the observations. Webb was placed in orbit around the Sun at a special location where its sunshield can block both the Sun and Earth (and Moon) all the time.; the second Lagrange point (L2) of the Sun-Earth system has this property. L2 is a semi-stable point in the gravitational potential around the Sun and Earth. The L2 point lies outside Earth's orbit while it is going around the Sun, keeping all three in a line at all times. The combined gravitational forces of the Sun and the Earth can almost hold a spacecraft at this point, and it takes relatively little fuel to keep the spacecraft near L2. The cold and stable temperature environment of the L2 point will allow Webb to make the very sensitive infrared observations needed. ... , to study ... formation in the Universe ... and instruments optimized ... , is less hindered by the small dust ... from the dust ... light we can ... the dust and ... leading to star ... formation. Objects of about Earth ... most of their ... at mid-infrared ... . These temperatures are also found in dusty regions forming stars and planets ... so with mid-infrared radiation we can see the glow of the star and planet formation ... place. An infrared-optimized ... allows us to ... the birthplaces of stars and planets ... nanometers, or 0 ... 7 micrometers; also ... of the electromagnetic spectrum ... 0.7 ... 5 micrometers ... 5-3

James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) - Features, Observations Vajiram & Ravi

The voice counted backwards in French from ten to one, then announced, “Décollage” – lift-off. The 15-year-long collaboration between NASA, ESA and the Canadian Space Agency had just entered its most critical phase: the launch itself. What happened next would determine whether the James Webb Space Telescope made it into space or not. ... “On the day of launch, the pressure was extremely high. We were ... confident of our success ... we had had basically 15 years of preparation, but still the pressure was high after a long launch campaign with a number of technical issues to solve,” says Daniel de Chambure, Head of the ESA Kourou Office, French Guiana, and previously Ariane 5’s Webb Project Manager. ... The team followed the ascent and its various steps. First, the boosters were separated, then the fairing opened up into two halves to reveal Webb at an altitude of 110 km, then the first stage separated, the second stage ignited and later shut down. Finally, Ariane let go of Webb at an altitude of 1400 km. The camera on the rocket watched as the space telescope drifted away, making an adjustment to its trajectory as it went. A few minutes later, when it was precisely on its course, Webb automatically deployed its solar panel, and began communicating with Massimo’s team in Baltimore. Daniel and his team had done their job. ... for Webb to calculate and execute its trajectory manoeuvre, ... the spacecraft would drift out of ... rocket’s camera, ... the solar panel deployment would take ... . But 70 seconds after the separation, the solar panel deployed. In Kourou, the reason was obvious. Ariane’s launch has been so precise that the attitude correction manoeuvre was superfluous. Webb’s onboard software realised this and so it skipped to the next task on the list, which was to deploy the solar panel and make contact with Baltimore. It was a stunning confirmation of the accuracy of the launch. ... Beyond the trajectory, the team also made another special modification, this time to protect Webb itself. NASA was extremely concerned that any residual atmosphere in the nosecone could cause that air bubbles trapped into the folded sunshield could inflate and tear-off the telescope’s delicate sunshield layers. So, ESA developed a system that would force the final molecules of air out of the nosecone before the fairing split and exposed Webb to the vacuum of space. “This was also a great achievement for us to see that the residual pressure was well below requirements after several demonstrations carried out on previous Ariane 5 flights,” says Daniel. ... Massimo was on duty as they prepared for Mid-Course Correction 1a. This was the essential extra push to make sure Webb was going to successfully reach its designated position 1.5 million km away from Earth. To calculate the rocket burn necessary, Webb was tracked for almost 12 hours and then the flight dynamics team at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center crunched the numbers. That’s when the scale of Ariane’s achievement started to become truly obvious. The orbital injection had been so accurate, the burn would not be anything like as long as was anticipated. “Already there, we knew that we were going to have extra fuel,” says Massimo. After the manoeuvre, they started tracking and calculating again. It turned out that the fuel they saved could now be used to help Webb stay in its operational orbit, and so extend the mission’s life. ... When the calculations were completed, NASA announced that thanks to ESA and its contributing partners Arianespace, ArianeGroup and CNES, the lifetime of Webb was now double. Instead of a 10-year mission, Webb was carrying enough fuel to keep it operational for 20. Double the observations, double the science, double the discoveries.

After a successful launch of the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope on 25 December, and completion of two mid-course correction manoeuvres, the Webb team has analysed its initial trajectory and determined the observatory should have enough propellant to allow support of science operations in orbit for significantly more than a 10-year lifetime (the minimum baseline for the mission is five years). Webb’s precise launch on an ESA-provided Ariane 5 rocket was performed by Arianespace on behalf of ESA from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. The analysis shows that less propellant than originally planned is needed to correct Webb’s trajectory toward its final orbit around the second Lagrange point known as L2, a point of gravitational balance on the far side of Earth away from the Sun. Consequently, Webb will have much more than the baseline estimate of propellant – though many factors could ultimately affect Webb’s duration of operation. ... The extra propellant is largely due to the precision of the Arianespace Ariane 5 launch, which exceeded the requirements needed to put Webb on the right path, as well as the precision of the first mid-course correction manoeuvre – a relatively small, 65-minute burn after launch that added approximately 20 m/s to the observatory’s speed. A second correction manoeuvre occurred on 27 December, adding around 2.8 m/s to the speed. ... Webb is the largest, most powerful telescope ever launched into space. As part of an international collaboration agreement, ESA has provided the telescope’s launch service using the Ariane 5 launch vehicle. Working with partners, ESA was responsible for the development and qualification of Ariane 5 adaptations for the Webb mission and for the procurement of the launch service by Arianespace.

Webb was launched on December 25th, 2021 at 7:20 AM (12:20 UTC). ... - In the first hour: The ride to space, solar array deployment, and “free flight.” The Ariane 5 launch vehicle provided thrust for roughly 26 minutes after a morning liftoff from French Guiana. Moments after second stage engine cut-off, Webb separated from the Ariane, which triggered the solar array to deploy within minutes so that Webb could start making electricity from sunshine and stop draining its battery. Webb quickly established its ability to orient itself and “fly” in space. - In the first day: Mid-course correction to L2. Ariane sent Webb on a direct route to L2, without first orbiting Earth. During the first day, we executed the first and most important trajectory correction maneuver using small rocket engines aboard Webb itself. We also released and deployed the high gain antenna to enable the highest available rates of data communication as early as practical. ... Webb was designed for a mission of at least five years, with a goal of 10 years. However, after a successful launch and the completion of telescope commissioning, the Webb team determined the observatory should have enough propellant to allow support of science operations in orbit for more than a 20-year science lifetime. Other factors may limit mission lifetime, such as the possibility that Webb's hardware will degrade over time in the harsh environment of space. However, as we've seen with missions such as the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory, spacecraft often continue operating years beyond their designed mission lifetime. ... Webb orbits around the second Lagrange (L2) point, which is about 1 million miles (1.5 million km) away from Earth, and it took about a month to travel that distance. During the trip to L2, Webb fully deployed, cooled down to its operating temperature, and its systems began to be checked out and adjusted. These check-out procedures continued until 6 months after launch, at which point routine scientific operations began.

# James Webb Space Telescope has enough fuel for way more than 10 years of science By Meghan Bart ... Published 29 ... It's thanks to a super-precise launch, NASA says. The James Webb Space Telescope fires its thruster in the second of three mid-course maneuvers in this NASA graphic. (Image credit: NASA) NASA's newest flagship space observatory should have enough fuel to more than double its minimum mission life peering into the history of the universe, according to an agency update. The long-awaited James Webb Space Telescope, a collaboration with the Canadian and European space agencies led by NASA, launched into space Saturday (Dec. 25) on an Ariane 5 rocket. Often billed as a successor to the agency's iconic Hubble Space Telescope, Webb (also known as JWST) is designed to focus on infrared light, giving astronomers a look at the earliest days of the universe. Despite an ambitious science agenda, the mission was designed with just a five-year minimum lifetime — but with the observatory finally in space, NASA is confident that it will have enough fuel to see much more use than that. "The Webb team has analyzed its initial trajectory and determined the observatory should have enough propellant to allow support of science operations in orbit for significantly more than a 10-year science lifetime," NASA officials wrote in a statement posted Wednesday (Dec. 29)." For comparison, the Hubble Space Telescope has lasted more than 30 years. "Incredible news! Congratulations to the team!" Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA's associate administrator for science, wrote in a tweet also posted Wednesday. "The extra propellant is largely due to the precision of the @Arianespace Ariane 5 launch, which exceeded the requirements needed to put @NASAWebb on the right path, as well as the precision of the first mid-course correction maneuver." ... "The analysis shows that less propellant than originally planned for is needed to correct Webb's trajectory toward its final orbit," officials wrote in the statement. "Consequently, Webb will have much more than the baseline estimate of propellant — though many factors could ultimately affect Webb's duration of operation." Webb has completed two of the three burns required to see it to its final destination; the final burn will take place nearly a month after launch and will mark the last step in the observatory's perilous deployment process. The first maneuver occurred on Saturday after launch, with the second taking place Monday (Dec. 27). ... That's what the propellant remaining after the third burn will be used for. And Webb will have more fuel left in its tank than NASA had dared to hope. The initial launch precisely targeted the observatory's desired trajectory, meaning the spacecraft needed to spend less time and fuel on its first two correction maneuvers.

James Webb Space Telescope has enough fuel for way more than 10 years of science Space