In late 2024 or early 2025, the agency’s Near-Earth Object (NEO) Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer—or NEOWISE—is expected to come home in pieces following the conclusion of its second mission later this month. The spacecraft, which spent more than a decade collecting data on objects whizzing past the Earth and exploring ways to defend the planet and its satellites from falling rocks and ice, is now at the mercy of the sun. Soon, it will become unusable.

However, NASA has a replacement lined up: the Near Earth Object Surveyor (NEO Surveyor), set for a 2027 launch. The infrared space telescope is the first to be designed specifically for hunting large numbers of NEOs in and around Earth orbit. It has a baseline development cost of $1.2 billion to which NASA committed in 2022.

“NEOWISE has become key in helping us develop and operate NASA’s next-generation infrared space telescope,” said Amy Mainzer, principal investigator of NEOWISE and NEO Surveyor at the University of California at Los Angeles. “It is a precursor mission. NEO Surveyor will seek out the most difficult-to-find asteroids and comets that could cause significant damage to Earth if we don’t find them first.”

On the Hunt

Built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. and borne out of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), NEOWISE has actually contributed to two separate missions in its 14 years of operation.

Originally known simply as WISE (Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer), the telescope launched in December 2009 and now orbits the Earth 15 times each day. It was placed in hibernation in 2011 after two years spent discovering and studying galaxies, comets, asteroids, white dwarf stars, and faint objects undetectable to ground-based telescopes.

WISE mapped the entire visible sky using infrared wavelengths—twice—to visualize the clouds of gas and dust orbiting around stars, and its findings are still being analyzed. It also identified tens of millions of supermassive black holes feasting on stars, hiding in plain sight.

After being reactivated in 2013, the spacecraft, now bearing the name NEOWISE, embarked on its second mission, which NASA says has become a key piece of its current planetary defense strategy.

In 2005, Congress directed the space agency to identify and describe at least 9 in 10 of the large space objects that come within 30 million miles of Earth’s orbit. The objective is to seek out hazards and steer them clear of the planet and its growing commercial spaceflight industry.

From near-Earth orbit, NEOWISE so far has taken 1.45 million infrared measurements of 44,000 objects in the solar system. Of those, 3,000 are near-Earth objects (NEOs), including 215 newly discovered NEOs. One of these, named Comet NEOWISE in the spacecraft’s honor, could be seen lighting up the night sky during summer 2020.

“The spacecraft has surpassed all expectations and provided vast amounts of data that the science community will use for decades to come,” said Joseph Hunt, NEOWISE project manager at NASA JPL. “Scientists and engineers who worked on WISE and through NEOWISE also have built a knowledge base that will help inform future infrared survey missions.”

However, because it lacks a propulsion system to keep itself in orbit, the spacecraft has gradually descended toward Earth since launching.

Compounding that is the solar maximum: a period of increased solar activity that occurs every 11 years and appears to be on the horizon, so to speak. Solar flares and other activity are expected to cause atmospheric drag on satellites, which could cause NEOWISE to come tumbling back to Earth as soon as this year.

“The mission has planned for this day a long time,” said Joseph Masiero, deputy principal investigator for the program. “After several years of calm, the sun is waking back up. We are at the mercy of solar activity, and with no means to keep us in orbit, NEOWISE is now slowly spiraling back to Earth.”

As NASA announced in December, the mission will officially come to an end on July 31 when the telescope ceases surveying. The space agency will then place it in hibernation for the final time in August.

Introducing NEO Surveyor

However, NEOWISE’s legacy is expected to live on through NEO Surveyor.

Unlike its predecessor, which found new life under a revised mission profile, NEO Surveyor is being purpose-built to hunt large numbers of asteroids, comets, and other NEOs. Construction of the new design began in December 2022 following a successful technical review, and NASA aims to have it ready in time for a 2027 launch.

Orbiting between the Earth and sun, NEO Surveyor’s mission will be to search for the darkest, least reflective NEOs using its infrared sensors. It will focus mainly on large objects in the neighborhood of Earth’s orbit, which are thought to pose the greatest threat to life should they make impact on the planet or spacecraft. It will also uncover “Earth trojans”—asteroids already in orbit that are often hidden by the sun’s glare.

The program will not eliminate or deflect NEOs, but, as NASA puts it, the agency can only protect Earth and its satellites from hazards if it can identify them first.

“Ground-based telescopes remain essential for us to continually watch the skies, but a space-based infrared observatory is the ultimate high ground that will enable NASA’s planetary defense strategy,” said Lindley Johnson, planetary defense officer at NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office in Washington, D.C.

After launch, NEO Surveyor will use its infrared instruments to complete a five-year baseline survey. Its goal is to find at least two-thirds of the NEOs larger than 460 feet across and describe their composition, shape, orbital behavior, and rotation. The observations are intended to be accurate enough that NASA could easily rediscover each object.

Planetary defense is the program’s highest goal. But NEO Surveyor will further help NASA scientists understand how comets and asteroids form and evolve, also an objective of the space agency’s concurrent Psyche asteroid mission.

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In partnership with the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), NASA will present the images alongside spectroscopic data from the world’s most powerful telescope. Live coverage of the image release broadcast will be streamed on NASA’s website at 10:30 a.m. ET that morning.

“Our goals for Webb’s first images and data are both to showcase the telescope’s powerful instruments and to preview the science mission to come,” said astronomer Klaus Pontoppidan, Webb project scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScl). “They are sure to deliver a long-awaited ‘wow’ for astronomers and the public.”

• READ MORE: James Webb Space Telescope Completes Alignment

Each image will be released one-by-one, and are said to “demonstrate Webb at its full power.” NASA will only make the individual images publicly available once they’re revealed on the broadcast.

Images from Webb have been long-awaited by space enthusiasts around the world, after the telescope spent months calibrating, cooling, and reaching its final orbit 1 million miles away from Earth. Despite being recently hit by a micrometeoroid, Webb is “ready to begin its science mission and unfold the infrared universe,” the agency said.

• READ MORE: ICYMI: All You Need to Know About the World’s Most Powerful Telescope

“As we near the end of preparing the observatory for science, we are on the precipice of an incredibly exciting period of discovery about our universe. The release of Webb’s first full-color images will offer a unique moment for us all to stop and marvel at a view humanity has never seen before,” said Eric Smith, Webb program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “These images will be the culmination of decades of dedication, talent, and dreams—but they will also be just the beginning.”

NASA previously released test images from Webb, showcasing its calibration procedures by focusing all 18 segments of its golden primary mirrors on a single star. The telescope also took a photo of itself, taking the world’s most expensive selfie.

“In addition to enabling the incredible science that Webb will achieve, the teams that designed, built, tested, launched, and now operate this observatory have pioneered a new way to build space telescopes,” said Lee Feinberg, Webb optical telescope element manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

The post NASA To Reveal First Images from Webb Telescope in Live Broadcast Next Month appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

According to NASA, micrometeoroid strikes are “an unavoidable aspect of operating any spacecraft,” and such possibilities came true when a segment of the golden primary mirrors was struck.

Fortunately, Webb is still fully operational and will only require minor adjustments to allow “partial corrections” when focusing on a target.

“We always knew that Webb would have to weather the space environment, which includes harsh ultraviolet light and charged particles from the Sun, cosmic rays from exotic sources in the galaxy, and occasional strikes by micrometeoroids within our solar system,” said Paul Geithner, technical deputy project manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “We designed and built Webb with performance margin—optical, thermal, electrical, mechanical—to ensure it can perform its ambitious science mission even after many years in space.”

Such an impact was considered early on in the telescope’s development—even though the micrometeoroid was larger than the telescope was tested for before launch.

“We know Webb will get struck by micrometeoroids during its lifetime, and we have taken that into account in its design and construction,” Geithner said in 2017. “We sized Webb’s main mirror so that even after years of little impacts it will still have the reflective surface area and quality necessary to do the science.”

• READ MORE: ICYMI: All You Need to Know About the World’s Most Powerful Telescope

For more threatening impacts, flight teams are able to physically turn Webb’s optics away to protect the more vulnerable parts of the telescope. According to NASA, a team of engineers has been formed to develop ways to mitigate future impacts, as the telescope has previously been struck four times.

“Since launch, we have had four smaller measurable micrometeoroid strikes that were consistent with expectations and this one more recently that is larger than our degradation predictions assumed,” said Lee Feinberg, Webb optical telescope element manager at NASA Goddard. “We will use this flight data to update our analysis of performance over time and also develop operational approaches to assure we maximize the imaging performance of Webb to the best extent possible for many years to come.”

Luckily, the recent impacts will not have an effect on Webb’s operations schedule, and the first full-color images are expected to go public on July 12.

The post World’s Most Powerful Telescope Hit by Micrometeoroid appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Robinson, who leads the JWST mission, joined NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) in 2018 and is now recognized alongside other honorees, such as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Oprah Winfrey.

“Greg has demonstrated remarkable leadership on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, through both the challenges and incredible successes of this historic mission,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “Congratulations, Greg, and thank you for your incredible service on behalf of NASA and all of humanity.”

• READ MORE: ICYMI: All You Need to Know About the World’s Most Powerful Telescope

NASA astrophysicist and Nobel laureate John Mather submitted Robinson’s entry on the list, praising him for his accomplishments.

“Our teams orbit around Greg, because we trust him to ask questions and understand our concerns and respect our opinions,” he wrote. “He makes it look easy, but I can barely imagine how he does it, and I admire him tremendously for it.”

Congratulations to our program director Gregory Robinson for being named to the #TIME100! More: https://t.co/AVSUIkgcEs

“Our teams orbit around Greg, because we trust him to ask questions and understand our concerns.” -Webb senior project scientist & Nobel laureate John Mather pic.twitter.com/4OaQjzMGMi

— NASA Webb Telescope (@NASAWebb) May 23, 2022

Robinson joined NASA in 1989, serving in multiple leadership roles during his career, including for many spaceflight and space shuttle missions. Robinson, a Virginia Union and Howard University graduate, has amassed more than 30 years of engineering, program, and project management, and senior executive leadership during his tenure at the agency.

“I am thrilled and honored to be recognized as part of the TIME100,” Robinson said in a statement. “I certainly want to acknowledge an incredible team of NASA engineers, scientists, technicians; our contractor and academia base; and partners across the globe, who have demonstrated amazing resiliency on the Webb mission through design, development, testing, launch, and now commissioning.” 

“We watched an extraordinary moment when Webb launched on Christmas Day—a gift to the world. As we approach the end of the science instrument and observatory commissioning process, we have broken new ground and overcome many challenges to deliver breathtaking views of our early universe this summer and for many years to come.”

The post Webb Telescope Program Director Named to TIME 100 List appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

According to NASA, Webb is a mere two months away from beginning scientific operations.

“These remarkable test images from a successfully aligned telescope demonstrate what people across countries and continents can achieve when there is a bold scientific vision to explore the universe,” said Lee Feinberg, Webb optical telescope element manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

Alongside the announcement, NASA released new images from Webb, featuring multiple test photos of the stars from each instrument.

“With the completion of telescope alignment and half a lifetime’s worth of effort, my role on the James Webb Space Telescope mission has come to an end,” said Scott Acton, Webb wavefront sensing and controls scientist, Ball Aerospace. “These images have profoundly changed the way I see the universe. We are surrounded by a symphony of creation; there are galaxies everywhere! It is my hope that everyone in the world can see them.”

• READ MORE: ICYMI: All You Need to Know About the World’s Most Powerful Telescope

On April 13, NASA confirmed the successful cooldown of Webb’s instruments, freezing the instruments at negative 447 degrees Fahrenheit. Remaining tasks for the telescope include the commissioning of the following highly advanced instruments:

• Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam)
• Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec)
• Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI)
• Fine Guidance Sensor/Near InfraRed Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (FGS/NIRISS)

For now, maintenance observations are being held every two days to monitor mirror alignment, where adjustments are made as needed for testing. According to NASA, the first full-resolution images from Webb should arrive this summer.

The post James Webb Space Telescope Completes Alignment appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The space agency announced Thursday that the jet—known as the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA)—will be shut down this year, after performing hundreds of missions to observe the moon, stars, planets, and faraway galaxies.

The reason? According to a peer-reviewed report for NASA, SOFIA’s “science productivity does not justify its operating costs.” 

Development costs for the program totaled more than $1 billion, according to NASA’s Office of Inspector General, and the project’s annual operating costs were around $83 million.

Flying with the Door Open

In partnership with the German Space Agency at the Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR), SOFIA flew regular flights up to FL450 (45,000 feet) with a 106-inch reflecting telescope on board. At that altitude, the telescope flew above 99 percent of Earth’s atmospheric water vapor, allowing astronomers clearer views of space. 

Based north of Los Angeles at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center, SOFIA performs its missions at night, flying thousands of miles over multiple western states, or elsewhere around the world. The telescope gathers data through a huge door in SOFIA’s fuselage, which remains open during observations, despite high altitudes and low outside temperatures. 

Incredibly, despite being inside a flying airplane with an open door, the telescope remains still enough to point accurately. In 2010, SOFIA’s program manager Bob Meyer explained how. “The telescope rests on big shock mounts that isolate the mechanical vibrations of the plane from it. And on the back edge of the cavity there’s a ramp that catches the airflow entering the cavity and redirects it back over the ramp and out of the cavity.”

Big Discoveries

Following its first flight in 2010, SOFIA was declared fully operational in 2014. In 2020, SOFIA discovered evidence of water on the moon—a key piece of data that continues to inform NASA about potential locations for lunar exploration. 

Some of SOFIA’s other important discoveries included: 

• the first type of molecule to form in the universe
• the fact that a nearby planetary system is similar to ours 
• the result of colliding exoplanets 
• magnetic fields may be feeding black holes

About the Aircraft 

The 747SP variant was a rare model of the iconic airliner—only 45 were produced. SP stands for “special performance.” Built with a shorter length and a longer range than the 747-100, the first SP was delivered in 1976 for Pan Am. The last SP was delivered in 1989. 

SOFIA—tail number N747NA—is one of just a handful of remaining airworthy SPs. It was delivered to Pan Am in 1977 and christened Clipper Lindbergh by Charles Lindbergh’s widow, Anne Morrow Lindberg. In 1986, it was sold to United Airlines, and in 1997, it was acquired by NASA. 

During SOFIA’s final months in the program, NASA says it will complete its scheduled operations for this fiscal year and undergo an “orderly shutdown.” No word yet on what will become of the rare jet. 

The agency says it will continue to explore the heavens with infrared technology, including the newly launched James Webb Space Telescope.

• READ MORE: All You Need to Know about the World’s Most Powerful Telescope

SOFIA’s legacy will be its precious data, which will continue to help astronomers around the world for generations to come. NASA says it will be available at the agency’s public archives.

The post NASA’s Unique SOFIA Boeing 747SP Flying Telescope Is Done appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

On April 13, NASA announced Webb’s successful cooldown to operating temperature, negative 447 degrees Fahrenheit, and is now calibrating its instruments to begin taking photos of the first moments after the big bang.
Since Christmas Day 2021, Webb has traveled 1 million miles away from Earth, crossing multiple milestones on its journey. Join FLYING as we break down Webb’s mission thus far.

Webb: A Christmas Story

After a series of delays, space enthusiasts received the best gift of all: Webb’s successful launch into the stars.

The massive telescope rode aboard the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Ariane 5 rocket from its spaceport in French Guiana, South America. Webb, the delicate and exceedingly expensive machine that it is, had to be folded into the rocket’s payload fairing—with inches to spare.

During the launch, the Ariane 5 rocket’s lower composite stage boosters produced 300,000 pounds of thrust and achieved nearly 27 minutes of powered flight. After leaving the atmosphere, the fairing jettisoned, relieving the upper stage of nearly 6,000 pounds.

• READ MORE: 5 Things to Know About the James Webb Launch

“I want to congratulate the team on this incredible achievement—Webb’s launch marks a significant moment not only for NASA, but for thousands of people worldwide who dedicated their time and talent to this mission over the years,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Webb’s scientific promise is now closer than it ever has been. We are poised on the edge of a truly exciting time of discovery, of things we’ve never before seen or imagined.”

Some Very Expensive Sunblock

Three days after Webb’s launch, the satellite began unfolding its tennis court-sized sunshields, measuring about the same thickness as a human hair.

The three-day unfolding of the sunshield was the first of many major instrument deployments, all of which had only one shot to deploy successfully.

According to NASA, the sunshield is necessary for the highly-sensitive instruments to pick up extremely faint heat signatures from across the universe. The five stacked layers bring down its “cold side” to nearly negative 394 degrees Fahrenheit, while the “hot side” sits at a simmering 230 degrees Fahrenheit.

“This is the first time anyone has ever attempted to put a telescope this large into space,” said Zurbuchen from the agency’s headquarters in Washington. “Webb required not only careful assembly but also careful deployments. The success of its most challenging deployment—the sunshield—is an incredible testament to the human ingenuity and engineering skill that will enable Webb to accomplish its science goals.”

• READ MORE: James Webb Space Telescope Successfully Deploys Major Components

Golden Hour: Primary Mirrors Deploy

Webb’s most iconic piece, the 18-segment primary mirrors, successfully deployed on January 9.

The mirrors are coated in a 100-nanometer layer of gold, applied using vacuum vapor deposition, and will allow Webb to capture incredibly faint infrared light. Altogether, the primary mirror measures around 21 feet across, dwarfing its predecessor—the Hubble Space Telescope.

Once deployed, each mirror segment tested its actuators, beginning a months-long alignment process.

• READ MORE: World’s Most Powerful Telescope Reaches Major Milestone in Space

“Today, NASA achieved another engineering milestone decades in the making. While the journey is not complete, I join the Webb team in breathing a little easier and imagining the future breakthroughs bound to inspire the world,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “The James Webb Space Telescope is an unprecedented mission that is on the precipice of seeing the light from the first galaxies and discovering the mysteries of our universe. Each feat already achieved and future accomplishment is a testament to the thousands of innovators who poured their life’s passion into this mission.”

In An Orbit Far, Far Away

In late January, Webb’s month-long journey finally concluded, parking in an orbit 1 million miles away from Earth.

On approach, Webb fired its onboard thrusters for nearly five minutes, as part of its final course correction. The telescope now orbits around the second Lagrange point, known as L2.

Unlike the Hubble Space Telescope, Webb is too far away for any crewed repairs to be made. NASA, and its thousands of collaborators, only had one chance for every instrument deployment—with no room for error.

• READ MORE: James Webb Space Telescope Reaches Final Orbit

“During the past month, JWST has achieved amazing success and is a tribute to all the folks who spent many years and even decades to ensure mission success,” said Bill Ochs, Webb project manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “We are now on the verge of aligning the mirrors, instrument activation and commissioning, and the start of wondrous and astonishing discoveries.”

The World’s Most Expensive Selfie

On February 11, NASA completed its first stage of mirror alignment and sent back the very first images from Webb—including a selfie.

Webb set its sights on a single star, but the image features 18 different spots of light. Since the 18-segment primary mirrors weren’t aligned yet, NASA used computer software to digitally align each point to create a unified image of the target star.

• READ MORE: James Webb Telescope Takes World’s Most Expensive Selfie

“In addition to enabling the incredible science that Webb will achieve, the teams that designed, built, tested, launched, and now operate this observatory have pioneered a new way to build space telescopes,” said Lee Feinberg, Webb optical telescope element manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

A Cool Spot for Stargazing

In its most recent update, Webb has reached its target operating temperature of negative 447 degrees Fahrenheit.

The sunshields did most of the heavy lifting when it came to cooling, but the telescope’s electrically powered cryocooler pushed it to just the right temperature. But why does Webb need to be so cold? Objects with heat emit small traces of infrared light, which could pollute Webb’s highly sensitive cameras.

For now, NASA has begun making adjustments in order to take more test photos of the stars. According to the agency, we should expect the very first full images from Webb this summer.

“I am immensely proud to be part of this group of highly motivated, enthusiastic scientists and engineers drawn from across Europe and the U.S.,” said Alistair Glasse, MIRI instrument scientist at the UK Astronomy Technology Centre in Edinburgh, Scotland. “This period is our ‘trial by fire’ but it is already clear to me that the personal bonds and mutual respect that we have built up over the past years is what will get us through the next few months to deliver a fantastic instrument to the worldwide astronomy community.” 

The post ICYMI: All You Need to Know About the World’s Most Powerful Telescope appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Friday morning, NASA released the two images as part of the telescope’s calibration process. The black-and-white photo serves as a selfie of Webb’s primary mirrors. In its reflection, the secondary mirror is visible in the center segment. Since Webb’s decades-long development racked up a bill of $10 billion, the telescope surely holds the unofficial title for the world’s most expensive selfie taken.

The first may look like a sky full of stars, but is actually 18 slightly different perspectives on a single star. Given that Webb’s gigantic primary mirrors are just starting to align themselves, each of the 18 segments act as a single telescope.

In a graphic released by NASA, the Webb team was able to identify which point in the initial alignment mosaic was being seen by each mirror. Eventually, NASA will be able to compile each point into a single, higher-definition image.

The photos were taken by Webb’s Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) as a means of aligning the primary mirrors. The image capturing process started on February 2, where Webb searched through 156 different positions in order to locate the targeted star.

“This initial search covered an area about the size of the full Moon because the segment dots could potentially have been that spread out on the sky,” said Marshall Perrin, deputy telescope scientist for Webb and astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute. 

“Taking so much data right on the first day required all of Webb’s science operations and data processing systems here on Earth working smoothly with the observatory in space right from the start. And we found light from all 18 segments very near the center early in that search! This is a great starting point for mirror alignment.”

According to NASA, Webb generated 1,560 images using NIRCam’s 10 detectors—totaling in 54 gigabytes of data, taking nearly 25 hours to process.

“The entire Webb team is ecstatic at how well the first steps of taking images and aligning the telescope are proceeding. We were so happy to see that light makes its way into NIRCam,” said Marcia Rieke, principal investigator for the NIRCam instrument and regents professor of astronomy, University of Arizona.

Once Webb has completed its cooldown to minus-390 degrees and is fully calibrated, the telescope will send back images with a higher quality than that of its predecessor, the Hubble Space Telescope.

• READ MORE: 5 Things to Know About the James Webb Launch

NASA noted that NIRCam is able to operate at current temperatures, but the rest of the major components will have to continue cooling before they start operations.

“Launching Webb to space was of course an exciting event, but for scientists and optical engineers, this is a pinnacle moment, when light from a star is successfully making its way through the system down onto a detector,” said Michael McElwain, Webb observatory project scientist, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

According to NASA, the first scientific images are expected to be sent back this summer.

The post James Webb Telescope Takes World’s Most Expensive Selfie appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Fresh off the heels of the James Webb Space Telescope launch onboard the Ariane 5, the ESA will soon begin testing the upper and lower stages of the Ariane 6 rocket on its launch pad for the first time.

ArianeGroup made the lower stage of the rocket in its Les Mureaux site in France, while the upper stage was made in Bremen, Germany. The stages took two weeks to travel across the Atlantic Ocean, arriving by boat on January 17.

The two stages will soon be combined in ArianeGroup’s Launch Assembly Building to complete the central core of the Ariane 6 combined tests model. After assembly, this will be the first time an Ariane rocket has been tested at its planned launch site.

The Ariane 6 will have two different configurations—Ariane 62 with two strap-on boosters, and Ariane 64 with four. The first will launch payloads as heavy as 4,500 kg into low-Earth orbit (LEO). The second will launch considerably heavier payloads of about 11,500 kg into LEO.

Both configurations will be powered by Vulcan 2.1 engines—an improved version of the Ariane 5’s Vulcan 2.0 engines. The new engines will be capable of propelling the Ariane 6 to 200 km within the first 10 minutes of flight, delivering 135 tonnes of thrust in a vacuum.

Read More: 5 Things to Know About the James Webb Launch

The ESA recently sent the James Webb Space Telescope onboard the Ariane 5 rocket, which barely fit the world’s largest space telescope into its payload fairing. The rocket took off from Europe’s launch site in French Guiana, which helped boost it into space by using the Earth’s rotational momentum along the equator.

Ariane 6’s first launch is scheduled for later this year, and has opened up applications for European organizations to include their project in its first payload.

The post Two Ariane 6 Rocket Stages Arrive at French Guiana appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Monday afternoon, Webb fired its onboard thrusters for nearly five minutes to perform its final course correction to its orbit around the second sun-Earth Lagrange point, known as L2.

The mid-course burn added 3.6 mph to the telescope’s speed, which was just enough to push Webb into its “halo” orbit around L2.

“Webb, welcome home,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “Congratulations to the team for all of their hard work ensuring Webb’s safe arrival at L2 today. We’re one step closer to uncovering the mysteries of the universe. And I can’t wait to see Webb’s first new views of the universe this summer!”

Read More: What You Need to Know About the James Webb Telescope

Webb’s placement at L2 will allow the massive mirrors to operate without interference from the sun, Earth, and moon, thanks to its tennis court-sized sunshield. Even though Webb has reached its final destination, it won’t begin taking photos of the universe until its onboard instruments reach a chilling temperature of around negative 380 degrees Fahrenheit.

Home, home on Lagrange! We successfully completed our burn to start #NASAWebb on its orbit of the 2nd Lagrange point (L2), about a million miles (1.5 million km) from Earth. It will orbit the Sun, in line with Earth, as it orbits L2. https://t.co/bsIU3vccAj #UnfoldTheUniverse pic.twitter.com/WDhuANEP5h

— NASA Webb Telescope (@NASAWebb) January 24, 2022

“During the past month, JWST has achieved amazing success and is a tribute to all the folks who spent many years and even decades to ensure mission success,” said Bill Ochs, Webb project manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “We are now on the verge of aligning the mirrors, instrument activation and commissioning, and the start of wondrous and astonishing discoveries.”

Now, Webb’s primary and secondary mirrors will begin a three-month aligning process to a nearly nanometer precision. The iconic primary mirrors were deployed as one of the telescope’s final milestones to full deployment. 
To see exactly where Webb is in space, NASA’s “Where is Webb?” tracker offers live updates of the telescope’s location at L2.

The post James Webb Space Telescope Reaches Final Orbit appeared first on FLYING Magazine.