Webb is beginning to resemble the form it will take when it is fully deployed – now that the mission operations team has successfully deployed and latched into place the observatory's forward and aft Unitized Pallet Structures. The team began working through the deployment of the forward pallet this morning, concluding at approximately 1:21 p.m. …
Early this afternoon the Webb mission operations team concluded the deployment of the first of two structures that hold within them Webb's most unpredictable and in many ways complicated component: the sunshield. The structures – called the Forward and Aft Unitized Pallet Structures – contain the five carefully folded sunshield membranes, plus the cables, pulleys, …
At 7:20 pm EST – 60 hours after liftoff — Webb's second mid-course correction burn began. It lasted 9 minutes and 27 seconds and is now complete. This burn is one of three planned course corrections to put the telescope precisely in orbit around the second Lagrange point, commonly known as L2.
While the team continues to work on unfolding Webb, we take a moment to learn more about the launch from two European Space Agency (ESA) representatives, Daniel de Chambure, Acting Head Ariane 5 Adaptation & Future Missions for ESA and Maurice Te Plate, JWST NIRSpec Systems and AIV Engineer for ESA. They provide details about …
On Dec. 25, the Webb team successfully executed the first of three planned orbit corrections to get Webb into its halo orbit around the second Lagrange point, L2. To hear more about these important maneuvers, here is Randy Kimble, the Webb Integration, Test, and Commissioning Project Scientist, at NASA Goddard: In sending the Webb Observatory …
Shortly after 10 am EST on Dec. 26, the Webb team began the process of releasing the gimbaled antenna assembly, or GAA, which includes Webb's high-data-rate dish antenna. This antenna will be used to send at least 28.6 Gbytes of science data down from the observatory, twice a day. The team has now released and …
At 7:50 pm EST, Webb's first mid-course correction burn began. It lasted 65 minutes and is now complete. This burn is one of two milestones that are time critical — the first was the solar array deployment, which happened shortly after launch. This burn adjusts Webb's trajectory toward the second Lagrange point, commonly known as L2. After launch, Webb needs to make its own mid-course thrust correction maneuvers to get to its orbit. …
The James Webb Space Telescope is on its way! The mission launched on an Ariane 5 rocket at 7:20 a.m. EST on Saturday, Dec. 25. Jane Rigby, the operations project scientist for Webb at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, told us what it was like to be supporting the launch from the …
The James Webb Space Telescope is safely in space, powered on and communicating with ground controllers. Webb continues in coast phase, and is now oriented correctly with respect to the Sun. The six reaction wheels of the spacecraft's attitude control system have been powered on, and they are now responsible for keeping the spacecraft pointing …
At approximately 30 minutes after launch, Webb's solar array began to open up. It is now fully deployed and we have confirmed that the spacecraft is power positive.
