(Bloomberg) — The largest, most expensive and most sophisticated space telescope ever made is scheduled to lift off Dec. 25 from the north coast of South America. At its eventual orbital station 932,000 miles from Earth, the James Webb Space Telescope might just see to the beginning of time.
The farther one looks in space, the further back in time one goes. When Webb begins its work in mid-2022, it will help scientists study some of the earliest light in the universe and to peer more closely at planets in other galaxies. More than 30 years after NASA launched the Hubble Space Telescope, its much bigger successor is designed to see through the most ancient mists of deep space.
The almost $11 billion telescope, more than two decades in the making, is a National Aeronautics and Space Administration collaboration with the European and Canadian space agencies. It’s currently scheduled to launch early on Dec. 25 from the European Space Agency’s South American spaceport in French Guiana aboard an Ariane 5 rocket.
For science, the Webb telescope’s ultimate promise is a greater understanding around two fundamental questions for humanity: Where did we come from and are we alone? But for NASA, it’s also a huge risk given everything that might go wrong.
The telescope is “a shining example of what we can accomplish when we dream big,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said Dec. 21 at a pre-launch briefing, calling it “one of the great engineering feats for the people of this planet.”
The Webb telescope will examine the infrared spectrum—thermal radiation humans can’t see and which is often obscured to ground-based telescopes. Hubble is still working, albeit from an orbit much closer to Earth (340 miles away), collecting data in the visible light spectrum. The older telescope, which had to be repaired after launch because of a flaw in its mirror, has been repeatedly updated with new technology and could last another two decades.
But researchers say Webb, named for NASA’s administrator during its heyday of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo rocket programs in the 1960s, is crucial to a deeper understanding of the early universe and how stars and galaxies formed. New insights are expected from discoveries dating back 13.5 billion years, only a few hundred million years after the Big Bang. The Webb will also be able to peer more closely at objects first uncovered by Hubble, many of which are obscured by interstellar dust and gas that the newer telescope can pierce.
The Webb’s skillset will also include observation of planets—some possibly like Earth—that orbit stars in other galaxies. One Webb target is the Andromeda galaxy, the closest to our Milky Way, which reveals far more of its nature in the infrared spectrum than in visible light. The telescope also has multiple forms of spectrograph imaging to study the composition of stars and planets.
But before any of this research can happen, Webb must arrive on station. First, the launch itself must be successful. Then the telescope must execute a daunting series of maneuvers, with the first 13 hours of flight including two critical tasks. Roughly 33 minutes after liftoff, Webb must deploy its solar array to begin generating power. Then about 12 hours later, the craft must initiate a course-correction rocket burn to fine-tune its trajectory toward its final destination.
Both must happen precisely on cue, long before Webb completes the 29-day trip to its post.
The telescope’s workstation is called the second Lagrange point, of L2, “behind” the Earth as viewed from the sun. The spot is one of five such points where the gravity of the sun and Earth balance to allow a spacecraft to move along with them. This reduces the amount of propellant needed for the craft to maintain its orbit.
The dark and cold of space are integral to Webb’s infrared work. After rolling out its solar array, the Webb must accomplish additional “unfoldings.” The craft will need to deploy a large scaffold structure to support a sunscreen that shields it from heat and light, followed by a five-layer Kapton sunscreen. The telescope, operating at temperatures below -380 Fahrenheit (-229 C), will always point away from Earth, the sun and moon.
Following those maneuvers, the spacecraft will then unfold 18 small, hexagonal mirrors that fit together down to the nanometer, together comprising the telescope’s 6.5 meters (21.5 feet) mirror. After assembly and arrival at L2, the Webb will have six months of mirror alignment, instrument calibration and other testing before it begins its mission.
If successful, the Webb’s ascent will undoubtedly cheer thousands of scientists who have watched in despair as multiple miscues, soaring costs and slipped deadlines bedeviled the project, which Congress nearly scuttled 10 years ago due to the steep budget overruns. The main contractor is Northrop Grumman Corp.
The Webb is likely to have its earliest “wins” in the area of exoplanet observations, planets that orbit stars in galaxies far from our own, said Alex Ji, a near-field cosmologist and assistant professor at the University of Chicago.
“I think this is going to have an impact on the same level as Hubble,” Ji said, noting the iconic images that telescope collected, capturing the public’s imagination. “What speaks to the power of this telescope across the entire span of astrophysics is how many people are excited about it.”
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
