NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has reached its final destination. Let's celebrate the team that got it there (op-ed) - Space.com | Canada News Media
There is a new speck of light in the sky right now, best observable from Earth around midnight. This blurry speck — dim as it may be, small as it may be — represents the grit and unity of thousands of people who worked together to place it in the heavens.
That light is reflecting down to us from the most magnificent space telescope ever devised by humans. After being folded up into a rocket and launched into space on Christmas Day, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has now arrived at its destination, fully deployed into its magnificent final form. Like a butterfly leaving behind its Earth-bound caterpillar shape, a new, larger and more beautiful observatory transformed over the course of a weeks-long journey in space. Now, from its new vantage point nearly 1 million miles (1.5 million kilometers) away, it will scan the skies for years to come, offering us a never-before-seen view of the universe.
The complexity of this transformation cannot be overstated. A tennis-court-sized, five-layer sunshield unfurled with incredible precision. The secondary mirror then extended out on a 24-foot-long (7.2 meters) tripod. And on Jan. 8, the team finished unfolding the largest mirror ever flown in space — composed of 18 gold-colored, honey-comb-like hexagons spanning 21.3 feet (6.5 m) across altogether. Thousands of parts had to work perfectly in sequence to get it right — and it all had to be set up remotely, from half a million miles (800,000 km) away, with no way to go visit it and manually make fixes. And it worked.
We did it. We did it, and you can see that speck of light in the sky because of an incredible team with extraordinary tenacity.
To the untrained eye, breakthrough innovation and exploration looks awfully close to crazy and impossible. The original goal was to look back in time over 13.5 billion years to observe the first galaxies and stars in our universe. And while we had many supporters, we also had many people, right from the beginning, who thought it couldn’t be done. Simply having the courage to set that lofty, outrageous goal some 25 years ago — that, right there, was the first show of daring from this mission.
A team then had to take that vision and turn it into reality: the biggest, most powerful, most complex space science observatory the world has ever seen. To do that, we needed inventors and implementors. We needed visionaries and leaders who focus on realism of technology, schedule and cost. We needed both decades-long experience and youthful, unfettered enthusiasm. And we needed commercial and government stakeholders together with international partners, all aligned behind one purpose: to achieve this outlandish science goal. Truly, the only way big goals are achieved is by diverse teams that come together as one.
It was at times a tough path. But silently and without much attention, an excellent and united team formed, which kept learning from mistakes and remained focused with tunnel vision on its goal. Through adversity and disappointments, this team learned the hard way that excellence is not the absence of errors, but the steadfast focus on improvement. True excellence is almost never about words, but about actions.
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Now, this origami telescope is in space, fully unfolded, and reflecting the sunshine back to us. After cooling down to its operating temperatures and setting up all systems, the telescope will be ready to reveal a new vision of the cosmos to us in five months or so. But, as we wait for these magnificent first-light images, we admire the grit and sheer excellence of the team that got us there.
As I have seen teams land on Mars, fly the first Mars helicopter, launch and operate high-tech missions that protect and improve life on Earth, and now build and deploy the world’s most magnificent space telescope, I no longer believe in the importance of superstars to achieve such audacious goals. I believe in the power of diverse teams that bring all their experiences collectively to bear to overcome obstacles.
And that is why, as Webb circles its new home a million miles away, I feel so hopeful. I hope you see what I see when you see that small speck of light: The incredible success we can accomplish when the right people work together — not only for the future of space exploration, but for the big global challenges we worry about each and every day. Big goals often have a hard path to success. But a team with grit decides that they will create success, long before that is evident to others. And long before any of us could see that dim speck of light in the sky.
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.
