JWST Status Update

[wstrohm]

We’re a go?, didn’t it get dropped?. Very pleased it’s on schedule.

No, never got dropped. It got "shocked" when a clamp on its base released unexpectedly, but has been tested since and is okay. (The pic of a dropped satellite payload that circulated on e-mail was of a Lockheed weather satellite.) The JWST is now carrying 369 pounds of hydrazine (NH4) and 292 pounds of dinitrogen tetroxide (N2O4) fuel. Present schedule for launch is 7:20 am EST December 22, 2021.

https://blogs.nasa.gov/webb/2021/12/09/webb-moved-to-meet-its-rocket/

 

[craighazan]

No, never got dropped. It got "shocked" when a clamp on its base released unexpectedly, but has been tested since and is okay. (The pic of a dropped satellite payload that circulated on e-mail was of a Lockheed weather satellite.) Present schedule for launch is 7:20 am EST December 22, 2021.

I'll be setting my alarm for that launch, can't wait to see little green men running around on another planet.

 

[wstrohm]

I'll be setting my alarm for that launch, can't wait to see little green men running around on another planet.

The first view of little green men will not occur until Spring of 2022, if then. There will be around 6 months of checkouts and calibrations. Just getting to L2 will take at least 29 days.

 

[craighazan]

Still no news on which processor runs my favorite telescope, this is from Wikipedia.

How close to the Big Bang are we likely to see in, is it infrared?.

 

[wstrohm]

Still no news on which processor runs my favorite telescope, this is from Wikipedia.

Couldn't do any better than the image below... it is a single-board computer, but no details (except "Power PC Processor") that I could find.

 

[craighazan]

Couldn't do any better than the image below... it is a single-board computer, but no details (except "Power PC Processor") that I could find.
View attachment 536834

An iMac!?.

 

[MacMan]

An iMac!?.

IBM still develops and sells systems using the Power PC processor.

 

[phunguss]

The JWST has been in development for 20 years, so they may have 'baked in' their code base with a selected processor. Maybe the 601 or 603 back in the day, but probably a more recent variant that is backward compatible.

 

[wstrohm]

The JWST has been in development for 20 years, so they may have 'baked in' their code base with a selected processor. Maybe the 601 or 603 back in the day, but probably a more recent variant that is backward compatible.

Good point. The original article is dated 2014, but who knows when that design was frozen? (My "Early 2005" PPC G5 uses two "PowerPC 970FX" CPUs.) TRW won the original $870 million (ha!) prime contract for the NGST back in 1998 if I recall correctly, so the design probably dates after that. (Wiki says TRW won the contract in 2003, but in fact Northrop Grumman bought TRW in 2002.)

 

[etorix]

Maybe the 601 or 603 back in the day, but probably a more recent variant that is backward compatible.

Could very well be a hardened version of a 603(e)… Satellites are designed for reliability, backed by years of testing in the field, NOT for the latest and greatest.