It’s insane how historic this moment is. I was watching my kids open their presents and watching this at the same time. What a great Christmas. Happy holidays everyone.
Much thanks to ESA for getting this beast safely off the ground. I love American rockets, but you have to give the Euros credit for their fastidiousness building such a capable and reliable launch vehicle. When a $10bn payload goes up, they put it on Ariane. That says something.
Yeah we don't do it for Doge Coin and Twitter trolls, we do it for Science in France. When Musk is King of Mars, an Ariane 5 will bring him back with his craps to flee from the inevitable revolution :p Between Musk and Van Braun, "american" rockets are some interesting sources of pride hehehe
I remember seeing the JWST on a space magazine cover at an airport store when I was around 7 years old maybe. Now I am 20 and happy to see what the James Webb Space Telescope is going to discover.
@JZ's Best Friend the universe turns around and emits light we can see with telescope.... universe is pretty old I hardly think they get it scope.... 10 billion dollars is alot though
the launch of the James Webb telescope by the French team in Guiana was so precise that Naza communicated that the telescope would have years of life more than what had been planned ... indeed the propellant on board in the telescope which was intended to periodically readjust the position of the telescope in space, was saved, because it was not used to correct the trajectory! a huge success for Ariane and this team, ESA is happy, CNES is happy, Naza is happy ... i'm so happy !!
4:35 That is correct, the acceleration at low altitudes leave the lowest kinetic energy of the expelled propulsion gases, hence higher efficiency resulting, for a given delta V, the highest "parabolic" escape velocity (in this case going to L2 the final velocity is lower, 9.9 km /sec, compared to the escape velocity of 11 km/sec). The trajectory is optimized. Critical is the cut out velocity limitation, to allow an arrival to the L2 halo orbit that is just below the required one, leaving the telescope rockets to accelerate to the exact entry speed. This is because the deployed telescope cannot reduce any excess speed (once the shields are deployed it must not turn around). To prevent mirror contamination, no maneuvering rockets point forward. If the arrival velocity is too high, the telescope will drift away from the halo orbit centered at L2, with no way to correct the orbit without damaging the mirror, that always points away from the sun (+ - 25 °)
I was expecting speed, cameras and the whole package. 😅 But I guess SpaceX spoiled us. 😂 Can't wait to see the first images! 😁 Now fingers crossed to the perfect deployment. 🙂
Well, the only thing Arianespace didn't have was cameras, but they showed Speed, Altitude, Distance (and something SpaceX doesn't, the planned and executed trajectories).
It is probably worth way more than 10 billion, because that's just how much it had cost to build. It took a lot of effort from some of the most brilliant minds alive (and probably some that passed away during its construction) to build this thing. The "selling" price is probably anything from 50 to 100 bi, if not more.
LOL not a chance, the 9.7bn is factoring in all of that stuff. 50bn would be about 1/5 of the ENTIRE adjusted cost for the Apollo program… all launches, Gemini program, all launch vehicles, etc.
Can't wait to see some deep field images of the galaxy, and universe. The Milky Way should be very interesting toward the black hole that occupies the center. Infrared images will show many heretofore not seen objects, and other phenomenon.
Congrats Ariane Space, what a great launch. Beautiful rocket, and thank you for delivery James Webb Space Telescope safely into space. I've been holding my breath for this moment for many years as a space fan. I can't wait to see what Webb can do!
Every once in a while there are events that make me so proud to be a human. Thousands of minds and hands, working for thousands of days so that we can detect molecules hundreds of light years away. Let that sink in. Cant wait for results.
I remember hubble going up when I was young and needing to be fixed. I also remember reading about just in a mag as a proposal. Hope all goes well and I get some good views for the wait
Me too.... I think it's because we know that we have no way to 'rescue' JWST if something happens, whereas the astronauts have extra layers of redundant safety measures & the ability for us to send up help if needed. There's a lot of blood, sweat & tears invested in JWST.... and only one chance to get it right!
@@medea27 The whole one shot no rescue thing was from decades ago when JWST was first envisioned. I'm sure in 10 years time, we would be able to send fleet Big F-ing Rocket for pennies and do whatever we want. In Elon We Trust!!!
What a picture-perfect launch. Although it is an expensive launcher, the Ariane 5 is also a beautiful piece of machinery. Thanks for streaming this, Tim Dodd. Well done.
I've been hearing about the James Webb for so long there were 2 or 3 times I assumed it was launched already, but when looking into it it's still under production. Glad to see it made it safely into space. I Wish KSP wasn't so tough to put stations together, though I haven't seen KSP2 yet. Maybe there are semi automated features for that one?
This is the perfect "next chapter" in the deep space telescope story. I was saddened when the Arecibo telescope basically became scrap metal after the tragic failure of it's support cable system. With Webb on it's way we now have an even better way to gather data on deep space. The level of precision it will provide is amazing. The ability to focus on distant objects will offer us some amazing possibilities! Imagine being able to see infrared signatures on distant planets which could signify Civilizations in other solar systems!!! Seeing a planet around a distant star, and knowing (based on Webb data) that there are heat signatures on the planet which are indicative of cities, or industries! I predict that Webb will provide us with the first hard data that indicates an intelligence outside our solar system.
There's some talk about rebuilding Arecibo better than before. Hope it goes somewhere. Not only for radio astronomy, but also needed to spot Near Earth Objects
Seeing cities IR signatures ... don't dream ;-) detecting O2 in atmosphere, yes, and that will mean life (most probably very basic one, but anyway a huge step forward)
What an awesome thing to be able to witness, on Christmas of all days. I feel lucky to watch this thing leave the earth and I'm really proud of everyone involved, and even humanity as a whole. Which is a rare sensation. Im in awe. Fly safe Webb! And may the spirit of human curiosity, love, and goodwill of mankind always guide your eyes towards new understanding.
The fact that it will be able to see the first light of stars forming is fantastic! But I am even more excited about its capabilities to observe exoplanets in greater detail than ever before. This may be the first step to humanity becoming an interstellar species!
Merry Christmas, Tim! Thanks for your awesome work in 2021. The excitement of Starship etc literally made life a small yet tangible amount better, and your coverage brought some light and joy to even the most gloomy of days. All the best in 2022.
for the people in the know this is huge and some people who are not into astronomy don't even know that what happened today that blows my mind this is one step closer to us finding how universe itself started mind blowing
Exactly. I am 47 and I do not have one single family member that is into any of this stuff. Physics, space, engineering, etc. hold no interest to them. I on the other hand have always been fascinated by it all. When my kids were young they loved viewing the planets through my 13 inch dobsonian telescope, but they grew out of it.
1:03:50 Solar panel deployment 2 minutes after separation instead of the planned 6 minutes. Nasa: "Deployment consists of hundreds of steps and everything has to go perfectly" Solar panel: "Yeet!"
I’ve been reading and waiting for so many years, I almost can’t believe JWT is finally out in space! Exciting times await humanity ! Merry Christmas everyone ✌🏻
Will we finally realize that the darkness before the big bang is just mechanical energy and that it reversed to create radiant energy (brightness) which then interacted with each other to create the big bang because of the inevitable absorption of the previous universe or have darkness and brightness co-existed either way the simplification and or complexity differences of darkness and or brightness animations will be even more important to understand, going forward. Everything that reflects out must absorb back eventually.
Why does the fairing separation move aft so fast if its momentum is similar to the rocket mass and atmosphere is so diminished. I suppose the inertia is still building. I too had anticipated a launch/mission failure but I am elated that the mission is still on track. This is the greatest mission for mankind so far.
Interesting question for you here Everyday Astronaut. Maybe you know or you might be able to ask? Are there any recurring stress dream archetypes specific to rocket scientists or the engineers who spend years working on something like James Webb? Regular people experience variations of the same basic stress dream archetypes. Like, the brakes or steering wheel on your car not working. Trying to throw a punch at your bully, but your arm moves in slow motion. If a student fears public speaking and they have a speech to deliver next week, they'll dream they accidentally showed up to school naked. That's a common stress dream archetype. If they're very worried about their grades, they dream they showed up on finals day realizing they forgot to study. That's another standard common archetype. There are others that are occupationally specific. An athlete missing the free-throw to lose the big game, or running in slow motion like the air is impossibly thick... An airline pilot flying 200 people, forgets how the controls work and crashes because the other crew members can't hear and won't respond. A doctor doing surgery on your child, forgets to use anesthesia. etc. etc. Are there any shared stress dream archetypes specific to astronauts? Accidentally pushing a button and blowing a fellow astronaut out an ISS airlock? The capsule door falling off during reentry? How about the people responsible for building the rocket that takes them up? Do they wake up panicked because they dreamed they killed everybody by forgetting to carry the one or inputting non-metric data? Dropping a tool in to a rocket engine and not telling anybody? Waiting years to find out if your lander will touch down successfully, I imagine engineers must have a common stress dream archetype about the lander cratering because they made a mistake and the two hundred other engineers all turn and look at you and shake their heads... A massive army of people have been devoted to working on James Webb, since 1996. $500,000,000 and who knows how many hours of hard work (probably a lot). Does someone dream they left work and forgot to turn off the machine that polishes the mirrors and now they're all destroyed from scratch marks? Used the wrong type of polish and scrubbed the mirrors with sand? Or just knocking the whole thing over with the scissor-lift and shattering all the mirrors while your supervisor is watching you? Do they see news reports, like an Everyday Astronaut video showing their face and explaining to the world how everyone was counting on them but the trust was misplaced and they screwed up and destroyed the telescope? Don't think I've heard someone like Buzz Alrdrin talk about it. Would love to hear about it.
What countries are seen to the upper right when James Webb separated from the second stage? Time 1:03:08 Looks like Sinai Peninsular, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, Red Sea and Gulf of Suez.
Would love to see a video on the orbital mechanics of parking JWST, I wonder how much they could be off the ideal line and still be viable, I'm guessing margin for error get smaller the closer it gets to the final destination by a fair ways and there is some good burn time left over but more is better for its service life in case it needs to dodge something or whatever.
Delivery instructions: fragile - handle with care, do not shake this way up (flamey end down) Read this first before assembly: "Congratulations on your $10B purchase ... we hope this gives you many years of happy observing ... " Warranty: 5 years, no return to base, not user-upgradable, batteries included. Contact our Baltimore support office to resolve any issues. Sorry for the delay in shipping.
Thank you for your amazing coverage this year and ofc the past years. Looking forward to more of the same next year. So no pressure! Much appreciated 🙏 🚀🇺🇲
INCREDIBLE MISSION!!!! ...CONGRADULATIONS...ON A GOOD LAUNCH......GODSPEED AND GOODLUCK!!!!! MERRY CHRISTMAS 🎄 TO ALL YOU SPACEFANS!!!! Time to put on " THE PLANETS" by HOLST!!!
Technically it is the cnes with Csg (Guyana space center) that do operate the base. Ariane espace do operate the launcher and nasa & sea do provide the payload… so esa & nasa has no direct responsibility… but if you like to think that it is a nasa launch then I means that you are on a USA website.
We are about to take a look at all the Christmases past. Hopefully this knowledge can guide us to our best future. Congratulations to the whole team and thanks to Everyday Astronaut for bringing us this.
