JWST construction completed. Now entering testing phase before launch in 2018.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/space/telescopes/a23670/james-webb-space-telescope-complete/

http://www.space.com/34593-james-webb-space-telescope-complete-2018-launch.html

http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/missions/space-observatories/final-layer-sunshield-completed-nasa-james-webb-space-telescope/

NASA has an interesting FAQ page about the JWST. It includes LOL-serious questions such as “Will the thermal design really work?” and “What is Webb doing to ensure that its gyros last the full mission?”

The answers to these are good, too.

What is Webb doing to ensure that its gyros last the full mission?
The gyroscopes on HST and Chandra are mechanical devices dependent on bearings for their function, and they face problems typical of such designs. Webb has adopted a different gyroscope technology. The “Hemispherical Resonator Gyroscope” (HRG) uses a quartz hemisphere vibrating at its resonant frequency to sense the inertial rate. The hemisphere is made to resonate in a vacuum, and the hemisphere’s rate of motion is sensed by the interaction between the hemisphere and separate sensing electrodes on the HRG housing. The result is an extremely reliable package with no flexible leads and no bearings. The internal HRG operating environment is a vacuum, thus once the gyroscope is in space any housing leaks would actually improve performance. The HRG eliminates the bearing wear-out failure mode, leaving only random failure and radiation susceptibility of the electronics (which all such devices share, and which can be mitigated by screening and shielding). Stress analyses of HRGs show this design has a “mean time before failure” of 10 million hours. As of June 2011, this type of device had accumulated more than 18 million hours of continuous operation in space on more than 125 spacecraft without a single failure.

Will the thermal design really work?
The Webb thermal concept is rooted in the experience with Spitzer. The performance of that mission demonstrates the accuracy of the thermal models that were used to predict its operating temperature through the same kind of radiative cooling being used with Webb. The Spitzer outer shell – which is analogous to the cold part of Webb – is running at exactly the temperature (35 K) predicted by its thermal models. An extensive program of iterative testing and modeling with full-size components – “pathfinders” will verify the Webb models. Pathfinders of increasing fidelity are constructed. The pathfinders are compared with detailed thermal models so that scientists and engineers can be confident that the “bootstrapping“process results in a good physical understanding of the hardware. This understanding is verified by thermal vacuum testing….

http://jwst.nasa.gov/faq_scientists.html

Am also looking up NASA’s plan for after the JWST. The Decadal Survey from 2007.

Long live the World Wide Webb. LOL

From the 2007 NASA Decadal Plan.

AEROSOL-CLOUD-ECOSYSTEMS (ACE)
Launch: 2013-2016 Mission Size: Large

CLIMATE ABSOLUTE RADIANCE AND REFRACTIVITY OBSERVATORY (CLARREO)
Launch: 2010-2013 Mission Size: Small

DEFORMATION, ECOSYSTEM STRUCTURE, AND DYNAMICS OF ICE (DESDynI)
Launch: 2010-2013 Mission Size: Large

EXTENDED OCEAN VECTOR WINDS MISSION (XOVWM)
Launch: 2013-2016 Mission Size: Medium

GEOSTATIONARY COASTAL AND AIR POLLUTION EVENTS (GEO-CAPE)
Launch: 2013-2016 Mission Size: Medium

GLOBAL ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION MISSION (GACM)
Launch: 2016-2020 Mission Size: Large

GRAVITY RECOVERY AND CLIMATE EXPERIMENT II (GRACE-II)
Launch: 2016-2020 Mission Size: Medium
“Changes in aquifers and deep-ocean currents. Ice sheet mass, volume, and distribution. Changes in Earth’s mass distribution due to dynamic processes”

HYPERSPECTRAL INFRARED IMAGER (HYSPIRI)
Launch: 2013-2016 Mission Size: Medium

ICESAT-II
Launch: 2010-2013 Mission Size: Medium

LIDAR SURFACE TOPOGRAPHY (LIST)
Launch: 2016-2020 Mission Size: Medium
“Global high-resolution topography. Detection of active faults. Global shifts in vegetation patterns and forest stand structure”

OPERATIONAL GPS RADIO OCCULTATION (GPSRO)
Launch: 2010-2012 Mission Size: Small

PRECIPITATION AND ALL-WEATHER TEMPERATURE AND HUMIDITY (PATH)
Launch: 2016-2020 Mission Size: Medium

SNOW AND COLD LAND PROCESSES (SCLP)
Launch: 2016-2020 Mission Size: Medium

SOIL MOISTURE ACTIVE-PASSIVE (SMAP)
Launch: 2010-2013 Mission Size: Medium
“Soil freeze-thaw state. Effect of soil moisture on vegetation”

SURFACE WATER AND OCEAN TOPOGRAPHY (SWOT)
Launch: 2013-2016 Mission Size: Medium

THREE-DIMENSIONAL TROPOSPHERIC WINDS FROM SPACE-BASED LIDAR (3D-Winds)
Launch: 2016-2020 Mission Size: Large

Oh wait, this is just Earth science. I was expecting planetary, solar and space science as well. We’ll have to wait until 2020 for the full decadal plan.

How much of this decadal plan has come to fruition?

SBS had a documentary on earlier in the year about the James Webb telescope, impressive piece of technology, lets hope all goes well for it’s launch, deployment and missions.

Cymek said:

SBS had a documentary on earlier in the year about the James Webb telescope, impressive piece of technology, lets hope all goes well for it’s launch, deployment and missions.

If you know how to pray, your prayers would be welcome.

The JWST deployment relies on unfolding. At least three other spacecraft have failed due to unfolding problems. The Beagle. Galileo’s antenna, and Skylab’s sunshield. Also, just getting such a big weight out of Earth’s gravity is a big ask. Hubble didn’t have the same problem because space telescopes the same size has already been launched and because the only unfolding there was the lens cap.