Progress
10,000km done, 1.5M to go !
The multinational James Webb Space Telescope – named after a former NASA administrator – has arrived in French Guiana, home to Europe's Spaceport, with launch finally in sight. An international collaboration (including contributions from NASA, ESA and the Canadian Space Agency), the long-in-gestation and eye-wateringly …
Yes Ariane has been extremely reliable. The shroud jettison and transfer stage ignition are solved problems that are done successfully all the time so the odds of a failure there are as low as a launch failure.
It is the new things, especially the aforementioned sunshade unfold, that I'm concerned about. Given how much time they spent on developing and testing it, it ranks up there with the "crane to lower a rover while hovering over Mars" on the pucker scale IMHO.
It IS rocket science and it's a series of butt clenching moments. Always.
The standard disclaimer in investment advice is "past performance is no guarantee of future results" and it applies here as well.
My butt can't take months of clenching so I will just congratulate all involved for the progress they've made and wish them continued success.
Bon voyage.
To be precise.
French Guiana is an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic coast of South America in the Guianas.
Area 91,000 km2 (35,000 sq mi)
Gibraltar is a British Overseas Territory located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula.
Area 6.8 km2 (2.6 sq mi)
If you like Sky at Night, you might enjoy Night Sky News Monthly by Dr. Becky on the tubes of you.
She's a published astrophysicist, specialising in black holes, but covers all things astrophysics, astronomy, interviews with people involved in astronomy projects (inc JWST) etc.
One related to the subject of article, is a conversation she had a few months back with Dr Sarah Kendrew, an astronomer and one of the instrument scientists for JWST. (link).