So, let’s get back to the important scientific stuff.
There’s a scifi/horror plot in the above. What happened during the day JWST went missing? Don’t let the obvious coverup about lags in reporting and calculated versus actual distract you.
Watch the skies!
Of course, NASA won’t admit that the real reason for the heat shielding is like Arnie smearing mud on his face, to hide it from Predators.
On a more serious note, that heat shield is doing some mighty impressive work.
It passed through a space-time discontinuum at the L2-adjacent chronosynclastic infundibulum.
Yes, a difference of roughly 500 F. Pretty impressive.
How curious–I just read that book for the first time the other day. I sense a Tralfamadorian conspiracy of some kind…
The Universal Will To Become (UWTB) is strong in this one!
I think we have a solution to the JWST repair problem, if it comes up. We just get some malevolent boy to pick up a piece of scrap metal, have him scrape and bend it whenever possible, maybe found a religion and start an interplanetary war, and after several years the piece will be an exact replacement for what has broken, and manage to be delivered directly to the JWST. There are a few details left to fill in but I feel that the basic principle is sound.
JWST is now closer to L2 than i am to New York !
I’m guessing the MCC2 burn and orbital insertion will be early this afternoon,. probably sometime around 2:00 PM EST. It’s so far from the earth now that the deceleration rate has noticeably decreased.
That’s the plan according to this.
Hope the breaks work - it’s still doing 450 MPH !!
Not as impressive as it would be if it was shielding against heat in a decently thick atmosphere.
I think you meant “brakes”
It’s important to take breaks too on such a long journey.
No brakes needed – only a minor trajectory adjustment. Once it reaches the general vicinity of L2, the peculiar gravitational forces at and around L2 will guide it into a gradual orbit around L2 in what looks like a remarkably convoluted fashion!
https://eoportal.org/ftp/satellite-missions/j/JWST_100122/JWST_Auto4A.jpeg
Just watched it count down to less than 1000 miles remaining!
Tracking website now shows L2 burn activities under way. I believe these are currently still just preparatory and planning activities. Nominal distance remaining: about 700 miles.
it just jumped again …67 miles to go !
Maybe because they did a burn?
To nitpick, the planned orbit is of the order of 500,000km in average diameter, so I assume the distance countdown is being measured to the insertion point, presumably quite a long way from L2 itself.
ETA: I see @wolfpup put up a picture