#Webb telescope tracker series

Webb’s orbit will allow it a wide view of the cosmos at any given moment, as well as the opportunity for its telescope optics and scientific instruments to get cold enough to function and perform optimal science. And I can’t wait to see Webb’s first new views of the universe this summer!” Click on the trajectory diagram for a full-screen version. We’re one step closer to uncovering the mysteries of the universe. “Congratulations to the team for all of their hard work ensuring Webb’s safe arrival at L2 today. “Webb, welcome home!” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. The final mid-course burn added only about 3.6 miles per hour (1.6 meters per second) – a mere walking pace – to Webb’s speed, which was all that was needed to send it to its preferred “halo” orbit around the L2 point. This mid-course correction burn inserted Webb toward its final orbit around the second Sun-Earth Lagrange point, or L2, nearly 1 million miles away from the Earth.

EST, Webb fired its onboard thrusters for nearly five minutes (297 seconds) to complete the final postlaunch course correction to Webb’s trajectory. Until then, this new YouTube channel will continually update, including any statements made by NASA.Today, at 2 p.m. That step will be followed by months of alignment to make sure the instrument is operating optimally.Īll in all, NASA says that barring any major issues, the telescope should begin returning science data by the end of June. After that, the segments of the mirror that were tucked into the Arianne 5 rocket faring will be moved into place, completing the telescopes massive mirror. OUTLOOK: AFTER YEARS OF WAITING, JAMES WEBB IS ONLY MONTHS AWAYĪs of January 3 rd, the first sun shield was successfully tightened, with the others to follow. “Everything is hunky-dory and doing well now,” said Amy Lo, a lead engineer for Northrop Grumman, the telescope’s primary contractor, after these two issues were resolved and the shield tightening resumed. Fortunately, the team was able to reposition the telescope’s solar panels to increase power and were also able to adjust Webb’s position to eliminate the overheating problem.Ĭhrissy Newton Gets Rebelliously Curious with NASA Astromaterials Expert John E. The James Webb team notes that there have been a few obstacles in the days since its launch, including an overheating issue and a low power issue. “The best thing for operations is boring,” said Ochs of the shield tightening process, “and that’s what we anticipate over the next three days, is to be boring.”

#Webb telescope tracker series

The team is now in the process of slowly but surely tightening the five shields, and if all goes right, the series of steps needed to make this happen should be completed by this coming weekend. According to a recent statement from NASA project manager Bill Ochs, that particular step, which involved the successful unlocking of 107 different pins, “was really a huge achievement for us.” While on this journey, the telescope has been methodically going through its deployment steps, including extending its five individual sun shields. ANALYSIS: TRACKING THE TELESCOPES PROGRESS IN REAL TIMEĪs of the posting of this story, the telescope was just over 60% of the way to L2 (LaGrange Point 2), a gravitationally stable spot where the Earth shadows the observatory from sunlight, allowing it to search the much cooler infrared signals from deep space.