Closing in on launch: NASAs gold-mirrored, $8 billion Webb Space Telescope

[TexasTowelie]

The world's most expensive telescope is parked for the moment in Greenbelt, Maryland, shrouded in a protective tent at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. In just two years, this long-delayed, $8 billion, cosmos-penetrating instrument is supposed to be nearly a million miles from Earth.

If it works, the James Webb Space Telescope will collect the oldest light in the universe, emitted soon after the big bang, when the first stars lit up and the first galaxies began to form. It will study black holes lurking at the center of galaxies. It will scrutinize the light from planets around distant stars and look for atmospheres you'd expect to see on worlds rioting with life.

But that's only after an epic journey. It's not a straight shot from the Washington suburbs to space.

The telescope first must be sealed in a climate-controlled container. Then, sometime in late March or early April, a truck will haul it very slowly and gently in the dead of night along a partially closed Capital Beltway. A lead car will watch for road obstacles and potholes.

Read more: http://www.examiner.net/zz/shareable/20170224/closing-in-on-launch-nasas-gold-mirrored-8-billion-webb-space-telescope-video

[Lionel Mandrake]

1. Why the circuitous route?

I had the privilege of seeing the mirror at the Northrop-Grumman facility near Los Angeles a few years ago. It was in the biggest clean room I had ever seen. Even the slightest amount of dust would have messed up the mirror in a big way. I asked, "Is it okay to smoke in here?" After the Northrop-Grumman guy had a fit, I explained I was joking. (In fact, I'm not a smoker.)

According to the story, after touring Maryland and Texas, the mirror will return to Los Angeles "where it will be mated with its sunshield and navigational hardware." I have to wonder whether it would have been faster and cheaper to do all the testing and integration in Los Angeles, rather than shipping the damn thing all over the map.