Was the (potentially) amazing James Webb Space Telescope launched from French Guiana on Christmas of all days to put it more in the public eye — or less?
Probably more likely for a perfectly Christmas-neutral rocket science reason having to do with telemetry. Still — if its mission turns out to be a successful one, this exercise in Very Big Tech will practically deserve a holy holiday of its own.
That’s because the Webb is designed to peer so far out into the recesses of our expanding universe that it will allow astronomers a view into the very early times following the Big Bang in which stars and then galaxies were first formed. They’ll get the first human look at how black holes in the centers of many galaxies form. In ways that will be more practical in the sense of finally figuring out if anyone else is out there, the Webb will also be able to give us a close-up look into the atmospheres of planets going around relatively nearby stars, where astronomers are hoping to find indicators of oxygen and water, the building blocks of life.
The telescope, named after the NASA administrator during the glory years of the race to the moon, is called by current NASA administrator Bill Nelson a “keyhole into the past.”
“It is a shining example of what we can accomplish when we dream big,” he added. “It’s a great day for planet Earth.”Or it will be, if the crazily complicated origami-unfurl that will be needed to create a tennis court-sized sun shield for its huge 21-foot mirror when the Webb reaches its orbital home 1 million miles from Earth goes as planned.
Nothing has been easy for the Webb. The scientists and engineers involved are careful to note that there are still a lot of things that could go wrong — “344 single points of failure,” in fact. And as a taxpayer, you don’t really want to know about its cost overruns. What had been touted as a $1 billion to $3.5 billion mission has ballooned to a $10 billion project that is 11 years behind schedule.
Bygones, if the Webb successfully fulfills its cosmic promise.
Looking for a little holiday weekend fun while exploring your tax dollars at work? Go to the NASA website and enter “whereisWebb” to track its journey. Way out beyond the moon. We wish it Godspeed.
— Tribune News Service
