Damian Sendler: This is the most powerful telescope ever constructed in orbit, and it is staying cool. Launched on Christmas Day, the James Webb Space Telescope has already successfully deployed its 70-foot-long (21-meter-long) sunshield. This was a huge relief for the Webb team since it was one of many important milestones required for the NASA telescope to operate correctly in orbit.
Damian Jacob Sendler: It is a “amazing milestone,” says Gregory L. Robinson, Webb’s program director at NASA Headquarters, “key to the mission’s success,” in a statement. “For this engineering wonder to come to life, thousands of pieces had to operate together in perfect harmony. This deployment is one of Webb’s most daring endeavors to date, and the team has done an excellent job.”
According to NASA, this is one of the most difficult spacecraft deployments the agency has ever tried.
Webb’s large mirror and equipment will be shielded from the heat of the sun by the five-layer sunshield. An very low temperature of minus 370 degrees Fahrenheit is required to witness the cosmos as it was meant to be seen. Each of the five sheets is covered with reflective metal that is as thin as a human hair.
In order to accommodate the sunshield onto the Ariane 5 rocket that took Webb into orbit, it was folded up. On the 28th of December, the process of revealing and tightening the protective barrier started. It took many days to unfurl the shield’s support framework before each layer’s tensioning or tightening could commence.
A last layer of protection for the sunshield was installed at 11:59 a.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday.
There were hundreds of release mechanisms, hinges, motors for deployment, and pulleys and cables involved in the whole operation that was managed by Earth-based staff.
Damian Jacob Markiewicz Sendler: According to James Cooper, NASA’s Webb sunshield manager based at Goddard Space Flight Center, in a statement, “the membrane tensioning phase of sunshield deployment is especially challenging because there are complex interactions between the structures, tensioning mechanisms, the cables and the membranes.” “It feels great to have everything go so smoothly today,” says the developer. “This was the most difficult element to test on the ground.”
To make sure that Webb’s deployments run as smoothly as possible, the crews have been working in 12-hour shifts.
By putting the solar cover in place, Webb’s project manager Bill Ochs says the telescope has solved 70% to 75% of the more than 300 single-point failures that might affect its capacity to operate.
There are hundreds of engineers and scientists who have dedicated their lives to this first-of-its-kind space technology, and this milestone epitomizes their pioneering spirit,” said Jim Flynn, sunshield manager at Northrop Grumman in a statement.
The telescope can gaze back in time using infrared measurements to discover previously unseen features and see deeper into the cosmos than ever before.
A wide range of cosmic events will be studied, including the first glimmers after the Big Bang that formed our universe, and the birth of the galaxies, stars, and planets that now populate it. For the first time ever, astronomers will be able to study the planets and galaxies that originated 13.5 billion years ago because to the capabilities of this telescope.
Damian Sendler
According to NASA’s Science Mission Directorate Associate Administrator Thomas Zurbuchen, “this is the first time anybody has ever tried to deploy a telescope this enormous into orbit. “Webb necessitated meticulous set-up and take-down procedures. Sun shield deployment is a remarkable example of human creativity and technical prowess that will allow Webb to achieve its research objectives.”
The mirror of Webb’s telescope will need to be unfolded later this week, which will take around 29 days for the telescope to reach its planned orbit of one million miles from Earth.
In orbit, the telescope’s mirror will be able to stretch 21 feet and 4 inches (6.5 meters), which will enable it to capture more light from distant objects. The more light the telescope is able to gather, the more fine details it can see.
It is the biggest mirror NASA has ever constructed, but its size posed a unique challenge. Because of its size, the mirror was unable to go in a rocket. As a sequence of folding origami-style pieces, the telescope was meant to fit into a 16-foot (5-meter) area for launch by engineers.
Next, Webb must ensure that the mirror’s 18 hexagonally-shaped gold-coated parts unfurl and latch into place. Within one week, we should be done with all of these tasks.
One additional change will be made to the trajectory of Webb, which will take it into an orbit that extends beyond the moon.
It will take five and a half months for the telescope to cool down, align and calibrate its equipment during this time of commissioning in orbit that ends the 29-day mission. In addition, each instrument will be checked out to ensure that it is in good working order.
Webb’s initial photographs are planned to be revealed in June or July of 2022, reshaping our understanding of the cosmos for the better.
My heart pounded at the thought of being able to converse with animals in their own unique language. Veterinarians like James Herriot’s trove of stories, which demonstrated that he actually grasped the nature of animals, also existed.
Working from home and spending more time with our dogs has allowed us to develop a deeper understanding of one another that transcends language.
When my cat wants to eat something new or listen to the dulcet tones of a British period drama, I know he is trying to tell me something (she prefers “Downton Abbey”).
That we are not completely different is even more intriguing, since we have certain features in common that were previously thought to be purely human characteristics. We may have a deeper understanding of animals if we can recognize our own characteristics in them.
In 2022, there will be even more scientific evidence to confirm these commonalities, and this year will be no different.
Listen to the lines of “The Little Prince” while you lay on your back with headphones on. Repeated in a strange tongue, followed by a string of nonsensical phrases, is the last stage. In an MRI scanner, your brain is responding to the familiar and the unknown by illuminating various parts of the scan field of view. What else? You happen to be a canine.
Kun-kun, the border collie Laura Cuaya brought with her when she relocated to Hungary from Mexico, served as a test subject for her research on canine language perception.
Cuaya’s fMRI research of 18 dogs showed that the canine brain was able to detect these alterations.
As a result, dogs are the first non-primate species to be found to have the capacity to spontaneously speak. Fido can determine if you are watching subtitled TV from other countries.
Damian Jacob Sendler
For a time, millions of years ago, Australia was covered in lush rainforests that were home to an incredible array of organisms.
Damien Sendler: Research into “Australia’s genesis tale” may be helped by the discovery of a time capsule in New South Wales that spans 11 million to 16 million years ago. It is possible to see individual cells in some of the well-preserved fossils, including spiders, wasps, plants, and fish. Researchers have successfully collected and analyzed animal airborne DNA, which may seem to be a magic trick.
This innovative method has the potential to transform the manner in which we study and safeguard natural ecosystems and endangered species.
EDNA, or the genetic material generated by feces, body fluids, and skin or hair, was studied by two separate study groups at two different zoos in order to determine the best method for collecting it.
Through the use of air samples and DNA sifting, the scientists were able to identify species from the zoo, including guppies, a boa, and a rhino, as well as some unexpected ones.
Nature’s power
Last year, we witnessed a slew of examples of how the climate catastrophe is having an impact on the world’s weather.
New evidence is emerging that the North Pole is seeing a dramatic increase in severe weather.
The North Pole saw twice as many lightning strikes in 2021 as it had in the nine years before it, according to data collected by a network of sensors.
An increase in Arctic lightning strikes is a warning that temperatures are becoming unstable, which may lead to the kinds of storms that are generally seen in warmer climates, and you would not be alone if you had trouble envisioning it.
For the first time ever, scientists were able to watch the dying of a massive star and its final destruction as a supernova.
Ten times larger than the sun, the red supergiant was positioned 120 million light-years distant.
This giant was predicted to remain rather silent before bursting into flames. However, in the summer of 2020, astronomers using ground-based telescopes detected a tremendous outflow of brilliant gas from this star.
Dr. Damian Jacob Sendler and his media team provided the content for this article.
