Comments on: All I want for Christmas… https://habitablezone.com/2021/12/21/all-i-want-for-christmas/ Tue, 07 Apr 2026 19:18:10 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: RL https://habitablezone.com/2021/12/21/all-i-want-for-christmas/#comment-47905 RL Mon, 27 Dec 2021 15:56:35 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=90326#comment-47905 No offense taken if you rather not say... It has to be rough to be involved with a mission that fails - so many things can go wrong, and so many variables are simply outside of our ability to control. Many folks on the JWST have spent decades working on it- I cannot imagine what it was like for them to have to sit and watch the launch... knowing that it could blow up and there was nothing they could do about it. Until we get the first images back in a few months, I am sure engineers and system leads will be having sleepless nights wondering what little details they might have missed... On projects like JWST every step, down to exactly what torque is applied to a bolt, is written down in a lengthy procedure, observed by a witness to double check, documented and signed off on... its one of the reasons such missions are so expensive, and take so long to build. But that is how it must be done when you absolutely must get it right the first time. Its a level of attention to detail that is alien to most people- perhaps especially scientists, so engineers and technicians that are experts in the minute details of a narrow field like adhesives, cabling, fasteners do the work. Procedures for every step are written down in maddening detail, and every step, no matter how trivial has to be initialed and dated by the person doing it as they do it. The level of such detail varies according to the mission classification- Human spaceflight and flagship missions like JWST get the most rigorous treatment... a small experimental cubesat will usually not have all those oversight requirements. No offense taken if you rather not say…
It has to be rough to be involved with a mission that fails – so many things can go wrong, and so many variables are simply outside of our ability to control.

Many folks on the JWST have spent decades working on it- I cannot imagine what it was like for them to have to sit and watch the launch… knowing that it could blow up and there was nothing they could do about it. Until we get the first images back in a few months, I am sure engineers and system leads will be having sleepless nights wondering what little details they might have missed…

On projects like JWST every step, down to exactly what torque is applied to a bolt, is written down in a lengthy procedure, observed by a witness to double check, documented and signed off on… its one of the reasons such missions are so expensive, and take so long to build. But that is how it must be done when you absolutely must get it right the first time. Its a level of attention to detail that is alien to most people- perhaps especially scientists, so engineers and technicians that are experts in the minute details of a narrow field like adhesives, cabling, fasteners do the work. Procedures for every step are written down in maddening detail, and every step, no matter how trivial has to be initialed and dated by the person doing it as they do it.

The level of such detail varies according to the mission classification- Human spaceflight and flagship missions like JWST get the most rigorous treatment… a small experimental cubesat will usually not have all those oversight requirements.

]]> By: podrock https://habitablezone.com/2021/12/21/all-i-want-for-christmas/#comment-47896 podrock Sat, 25 Dec 2021 22:52:56 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=90326#comment-47896 Hoping that everything unfolds as it should. Hoping that everything unfolds as it should.

]]> By: RL https://habitablezone.com/2021/12/21/all-i-want-for-christmas/#comment-47895 RL Sat, 25 Dec 2021 18:12:14 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=90326#comment-47895 But a whole lot more needs to go well... It will be 3 months before we get the first test images... But a whole lot more needs to go well… It will be 3 months before we get the first test images…

]]> By: podrock https://habitablezone.com/2021/12/21/all-i-want-for-christmas/#comment-47892 podrock Sat, 25 Dec 2021 14:50:00 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=90326#comment-47892 https://jwst.nasa.gov/content/webbLaunch/whereIsWebb.html https://jwst.nasa.gov/content/webbLaunch/whereIsWebb.html

]]> By: RL https://habitablezone.com/2021/12/21/all-i-want-for-christmas/#comment-47891 RL Sat, 25 Dec 2021 12:41:59 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=90326#comment-47891 So far, so good So far, so good

]]> By: RL https://habitablezone.com/2021/12/21/all-i-want-for-christmas/#comment-47886 RL Thu, 23 Dec 2021 03:44:52 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=90326#comment-47886 <a href="https://www.planetary.org/articles/jwst-first-images" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">https://www.planetary.org/articles/jwst-first-images</a> https://www.planetary.org/articles/jwst-first-images

]]> By: RL https://habitablezone.com/2021/12/21/all-i-want-for-christmas/#comment-47885 RL Wed, 22 Dec 2021 18:47:34 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=90326#comment-47885 Picture I took of JWST in 2016: <img src="https://www.habitablezone.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/20160426_160921.jpg" alt="" /> Picture I took of JWST in 2016:

]]> By: RL https://habitablezone.com/2021/12/21/all-i-want-for-christmas/#comment-47879 RL Wed, 22 Dec 2021 15:46:19 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=90326#comment-47879 And the suspense won't end with the launch- a LOT has to go right over the following weeks before it can be called a success. And the suspense won’t end with the launch- a LOT has to go right over the following weeks before it can be called a success.

]]> By: RL https://habitablezone.com/2021/12/21/all-i-want-for-christmas/#comment-47878 RL Wed, 22 Dec 2021 13:35:19 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=90326#comment-47878 It certainly isn't the worst memorial we could have to commemorate our brief reign as Earth's dominant species. It certainly isn’t the worst memorial we could have to commemorate our brief reign as Earth’s dominant species.

]]> By: ER https://habitablezone.com/2021/12/21/all-i-want-for-christmas/#comment-47877 ER Wed, 22 Dec 2021 05:34:29 +0000 https://www.habitablezone.com/?p=90326#comment-47877 JWST will unfold and face the universe. Unlike this little fellow... https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/perfectly-preserved-dinosaur-embryo-found-233614748.html <img src="https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/CR5YBMNZyxgAgNjhQ9uW7g--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTk2MDtoPTU0MDtjZj13ZWJw/https://s.yimg.com/uu/api/res/1.2/WIQ2meVDBAmHbQFE0HZf3Q--~B/aD01NDk7dz05NzY7YXBwaWQ9eXRhY2h5b24-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/bbc_us_articles_995/49c234b4227a3ee3627453b050325be5" alt="." /> JWST will unfold and face the universe. Unlike this little fellow…

https://currently.att.yahoo.com/news/perfectly-preserved-dinosaur-embryo-found-233614748.html

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