The Insane Engineering of James Webb Telescope
Unlike the Hubble, which enters and exits the Earth’s shadow every 90 minutes, Webb will have an unobstructed view that will allow scientific operations to be conducted 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Since it will always be in the same position relative to the Earth, in the sky at midnight. about 1.5 million km away, we can have constant communication with it as the Earth orbits through the deep space network (DSN) using three large terrestrial antennas located in Australia, Spain, and California. The data will be transmitted from JWST to Earth via NASA’s deep space network, processed and calibrated at STScI, and then disseminated online to astronomers around the world.
NIRISS will explore space to find traces of the first light in the universe, and will search and characterize alien planets. Described by scientists as a “time machine”, this telescope will enable astronomers to study the origin of the universe shortly after the Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago and look for signs of planets that support life in our galaxy. The Webb Telescope will observe every stage of the history of the universe, including the first flare since the Big Bang created our universe, and the formation of galaxies, stars, and planets that fill the universe today. Its capabilities will enable the observatory to answer questions about our solar system and study the weak signals of the first galaxies that formed 13.5 billion years ago.
Since Webb is an infrared telescope, its focus will be on spectroscopy. Webb will mainly observe infrared light coming from faint and very distant objects. In L2, Webb will not experience the same temperature shift effect that can distort telescopes’ ability to see the universe. According to NASA, Webb will act as an infrared detective, detecting invisible light to us and uncovering otherwise hidden regions of space.
The telescope has a mirror that can extend 21 feet 4 inches (6.5 meters). This huge length allows the mirror to collect more light from the objects it observes when the telescope is in space. The telescope includes instruments from the Canadian Space Agency and the European Space Agency.
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center is leading the development, and the Space Telescope Science Institute will manage Webb after launch. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) at Johns Hopkins University Homewood Campus in Baltimore, Maryland has been selected as JWST’s Science Operations Center (S&OC) with an initial budget of $162.2 million to support the first year of Operation. After launch.
With a 21-foot or 6.5-meter wide gilded mirror, JWST will be able to collect infrared light from galaxies that have moved 13.6 billion light-years in space and time. The James Webb Space Telescope will not orbit the Earth like the Hubble Space Telescope: it will actually orbit the sun at the so-called second Lagrangian point, or L2, 1.5 million kilometers (1 million miles) from the Earth. After launching the Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana at 12:20 GMT, the spacecraft will go to a gravitationally stable location called Lagrange point-in this case, called The Lagrange point of L2-orbits the sun about 1.5 million kilometers. Beyond the earth.
In the next month, the spacecraft will reach its final position 1 million miles from the earth. Along the way, the spacecraft will slowly rotate and change to reach its final configuration-an absolutely necessary process for the telescope to observe space.
Since Weber, like almost any satellite that has been built, will not be used, it uses a seven-year extensive integration and test program to verify the system and identify any problems before launch so that [by the control of the earth器] correct these problems. When NASA chose Northrop Grumman to lead the construction of Webbs in 2002, the personnel responsible for the mission estimated that the cost of the mission was between US$1 billion and US$3.5 billion, and it was launched into space in 2010. NASA initially hoped to launch it in 2010. In 2007, rising costs prompted engineers to reconsider telescopes 2005. NASA has built and launched a new 7-ton telescope in cooperation with European and Canadian space agencies. Thousands of people from 29 countries have been working there since the 1990s.
Astronomers all over the world have been anxiously awaiting when Webb will finally take to the skies after years of failure. After the JWST finally arrived at the launch site, NASA set a launch date for December 18. Following the resumption of construction, NASA announced the postponement of the launch date to October 31, 2021.
After completion, JWST will fully deploy its main image, which also needs to be started in the folded space. But if nothing happens, JWST will begin to send scientific data back to Earth this summer (NASA, ESA, and Canadian Space Agency staff will get 15% and 5% of the time respectively. Perfect observation). But the most powerful and advanced space observatory in the world will answer questions about our solar system, study exoplanets in new ways, and gain insight into the universe in an unprecedented way. The huge telescope is neatly folded to fit the rocket that launched it, and will slowly unfold within the first week of entering space.
The expected mass of the JWST is about half that of the Hubble Space Telescopes, but its main mirror, a 6.5-meter diameter gold-plated beryllium reflector, will have a collection area six times larger, 25.4 m2 (273 sq. Ft.) When used 18 Hexagonal mirrors with a shade of 0.9 m2 (9.7 sq. Ft.) For secondary support legs. However, the JWST mirror will reduce the size of the Hubble mirror to just 8 feet or 2.4 meters wide. NIRCam will be equipped with coronagraphs capable of blocking the light of bright objects, making visible fainter objects near these stars (for example, planets).
To achieve these goals, it will observe in the infrared band, avoiding visible and ultraviolet light, and the Hubble Space Telescope will include it in its repertoire. First, it will not study the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum like the Hubble Telescope and most ground-based telescopes, but will only study infrared radiation.
That’s why Webb has a tennis court-sized five-layer sunshade to keep the telescope away from the sun’s heat and keep its instruments cool. For sunscreen to be effective protection (provides the telescope with the equivalent of one million SPF sunscreens) against the light and heat of the Sun / Earth / Moon, these bodies must all be aligned in the same direction. These components are not suitable for the JWST rocket, so both will open once the telescope is in space. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is an $ 8.8 billion space observatory built for unprecedented infrared observations of the universe.
Weber managed the space agency from 1961 to 1968 and retired a few months before NASA sent the first man to the moon. Although Webbs’ appointment as NASA director is closely related to the Apollo moon landing program, he is also considered a leader in the field of space science. Even during the great political turmoil, Weber set scientific goals for NASA, writing that launching large space telescopes should be a key goal of the space agency.
Attribution
Originally Published On Medium
Credit To- Sulav Kandel
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