NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is fueled up for its Dec. 22 launch:
The new James Webb Space Telescope is topped off and one step closer to taking flight.
Mission team members have finished fueling the James Webb Space Telescope at[sic] ahead of its planned Dec. 22 launch from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana, the European Space Agency announced Monday (Dec. 6). The fueling for Webb, which is an international collaborative effort between NASA, ESA and the Canadian Space Agency, took 10 days and was completed on Dec. 3, according to the ESA statement.
After a series of delays since the development of the scope first began in 1996, Webb is still on track to finally launch Dec. 22 atop an Arianespace Ariane 5 rocket from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana.
"Webb's propellant tanks were filled separately with [21 gallons] 79.5 l of dinitrogen tetroxide oxidizer and [42 gallons] 159 l hydrazine," the ESA wrote in the announcement, adding that the oxidizer "improves the burn efficiency of the hydrazine fuel."
Now that Webb is fueled, the mission team will begin "combined operations," according to the statement. In this phase, the teams behind the rocket and the telescope will come together to mount Webb on the Ariane 5 rocket and encapsulate it within the rocket's fairing. The newly joined pair will then be moved to the Final Assembly building for final preparations before liftoff.
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope Fully Fueled for Launch – James Webb Space Telescope:
In preparation for launch later this month, ground teams have successfully completed the delicate operation of loading the James Webb Space Telescope with the propellant it will use to steer itself while in space.
In order to make critical course corrections shortly after launch, to maintain its prescribed orbit nearly 1 million miles from Earth, and to repoint the observatory and manage its momentum during operations, Webb was built with a total of 12 rocket thrusters. These rocket thrusters use either hydrazine fuel or a special mixture of hydrazine fuel and dinitrogen tetroxide oxidizer.
To safely handle these extremely toxic propellants, Webb was moved to the fueling section of the Ariane payload preparation facility at Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana. Specialists wore Self-Contained Atmospheric Protective Ensemble, or "SCAPE," suits while loading the observatory. The nearly 10-day procedure began Nov. 25.
[...] The next large milestones for the joint teams will be to move Webb to the Bâtiment d'Assemblage Final (BAF), or Final Assembly Building; place it atop its rocket; and encapsulate it inside its protective fairing. With final closeouts complete, the full stack of rocket and payload atop its mobile launch platform will be rolled out of the BAF to the launch pad, two days before its scheduled Dec. 22 launch.
Related Stories
James Webb Space Telescope reaches launch pad for Christmas liftoff
The James Webb Space Telescope is due to launch on Saturday (Dec. 25) during a 32-minute window that opens at 7:20 a.m. EST (1220 GMT). The massive observatory will blast off from Kourou, French Guiana, atop an Ariane 5 rocket operated by European launch provider Arianespace. You can watch launch coverage live at Space.com beginning at 6 a.m. EST (1100 GMT) courtesy of NASA or you can watch directly at the agency's website.
ESA launch kit (PDF).
Previously:
Space science: The telescope that ate astronomy
JWST Primary Mirror Starting To Come Together
New Space Telescope's Giant Gold Mirror Unveiled (April 29th)
Telescope That 'Ate Astronomy' Is on Track to Surpass Hubble
James Webb Space Telescope Vibration Testing Completed
Launch of James Webb Space Telescope Delayed to Spring 2019
Launch of James Webb Space Telescope Could be Further Delayed
JWST: Too Big to Fail?
GAO: James Webb Space Telescope Launch Date Likely Will be Delayed (Again)
Launch of James Webb Space Telescope Delayed to May 2020, Could Exceed Budget Cap
NASA Announces JWST Independent Review Board Members
Screws and Washers Have Fallen Off JWST Amid Testing and Independent Review
Launch of James Webb Space Telescope Delayed Again, This Time to March 2021, Cost at $9.66 Billion
NASA Administrator at House Hearing: WFIRST Could be Delayed to Help Pay for JWST
James Webb Passes Critical Mission Review for 2021 Launch, Final Testing Nearing Completion
NASA Ominously Chooses Halloween 2021 to Launch Long-Delayed Space Telescope
The James Webb Space Telescope, NASA's Next Great Observatory, Passes Final Ground Tests
The James Webb Telescope has a Launch Date
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope Passes Crucial Launch-Simulation Tests
James Webb Telescope: Preparations Resume for December 22 Launch
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope Fully Fueled for Launch
(Score: 3, Interesting) by acid andy on Wednesday December 08 2021, @08:19PM (10 children)
Finally something exciting is happening, in a good way.
Given how truly amazing the Hubble telescopes images and findings were, and given how big of an upgrade the JWST is on Hubble, I am really looking forward to, and also dreading, this launch. The whole thing has an air of too good to be true about it. Hope that's just pessimism talking. If they built a spare one I'd be less nervous about the launch.
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 08 2021, @08:30PM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 08 2021, @08:35PM (2 children)
But but just imagine the explosion! How magical, but short, it would be ...
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Wednesday December 08 2021, @08:42PM (1 child)
Meh. Explosions are so last millennium. Unless they livestream what the telescope can see while it's happening, I'm not interested.
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 1) by shrewdsheep on Wednesday December 08 2021, @09:09PM
That would be black, a single flicker, then black again.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday December 08 2021, @09:41PM (5 children)
There's not much "too good to be true" about the JWST era. JW sucked up all the funding, so we're likely to lose the Hubble and several other major programs while it is operational. JWST is also not capable of all the spectra that Hubble and the other at-risk programs are, so when JW sees something interesting, it may be decades instead of days before followup can round out the picture.
I look forward to all the discoveries JWST will surely make, but I dread the pending incessant "if only we could investigate this further with X like we could 10 years ago..."
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by sgleysti on Wednesday December 08 2021, @11:35PM (2 children)
I wonder why they don't build at least two of each of these things. Surely the cost of the second would be lower than the cost of the first. Heck, building another Hubble with minor upgrades for known problems would be a great thing to do, it seems.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Thursday December 09 2021, @01:31AM (1 child)
Because that would make two much sense...
The scientists have hoodwinked the bean counters on occasion selling programs like Gemini and other stereo vision craft, but a flagship like JWST is subject to the same scrutiny as the shuttle boosters - gotta tow those bad boys back to Florida from the Indian F-ing Ocean to show the voters how frugal NASA is being. Two JWST that just duplicate each others' function? That would increase the total budget 10% but the scrutiny of the program 110% by "fiscally conservative" congress critters.
They did manage to launch two Voyagers, and some of the other early probes on that logic, but the public wasn't quite done with NASA and JPL as Space Cowboy heroes back then.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 09 2021, @04:01AM
Two Voyagers was mostly about the planetary alignment making the mission possible being a once in a lifetime thing, so if they only built one and it broke then the opportunity would be lost. Space telescopes aren't on a clock. JWST is especially not following a schedule.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 09 2021, @01:27PM (1 child)
Running JWST won't suck up the funding outrageously like the development funding did. It is also hard to really tell how much it impacted other NASA programs. In the earlier days it was sucking all of the air out of the room and NASA managed to get it to be its own Congressional line item in the budget, so that the funding could be decoupled from the NASA directorate. As its own line item, from there I suppose it depends upon whether the appropriators considered it as part of the total NASA budget or whether they treated it as its own separate thing. I wasn't paying enough attention to know from there, but if there are any economics graduate students looking for a good thesis project, I bet that would be one (though I bet JWST budgets/economics has probably spurred a number of dissertations!).
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Friday December 10 2021, @02:39AM
Perception is all there is, particularly in Congress. Development is largely out of the news, but those amazing images? They actually create significant voter back pressure on the funding. Get too many flashy space programs going at once and the silent majority (which is neither) get their dander up and it rattles the stability of lifetime incumbent conservatives.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 4, Insightful) by tangomargarine on Wednesday December 08 2021, @09:33PM (1 child)
It was supposed to be launched in 2007. Just let me know when it's in space and actually sending back its first pictures.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 08 2021, @09:40PM
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Wednesday December 08 2021, @10:42PM (1 child)
I really hope this works, and doesn't have a Hubble type issue. If one of 344 single points of failure happens, or something nobody predicted (see also: shuttle mission to give Hubble glasses) then we're farked.
Here's hoping everything goes right. 344. damn. government program. damn. I'm old (63), I'll be dead before they send a mission to fix what went wrong, let alone see first light, let alone see usable light.
It's really weird to think I'll be dead before some x in the future happens.....
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 09 2021, @01:30PM
You know those Arianne guys are under a LOT of pressure. I bet their checklists go as far as to schedule when they can scratch their asses.