Thursday, December 30, 2021

Revolutionary James Webb telescope blasts off into space 革命性的詹姆斯韋伯望遠鏡發射升空


DW News shows that a revolutionary telescope has been launched into space, marking the beginning of a new era of scientific exploration.

The James Webb telescope - named after a former head of NASA - lifted off on board a rocket from the European Space Agency's launch base in French Guiana. The launch is the culmination of several tough decades of work by European, Canadian and USA space agencies. Many call this the world's most powerful telescope.

It is nice to know that the launch went well (the thing did not explode or anything bad like that).

The $9bn observatory will seek out light from far away stars and galaxies, providing a glimpse into cosmic creation.

The $9bn observatory hurtled towards its destination 1.6 million km (1 million miles) away - or more than 4 times beyond the moon.

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope certainly soared up from French Guiana on South America’s northeastern coast, riding a European Ariane rocket into the morning sky on Saturday.

The next step is for the telescope’s large mirror and sunshield need to unfurl. They were folded origami-style to fit into the rocket’s nose cone. A risk is taken with this mission - hopefully there will not be many errors.

Scientists are certainly going to be able to examine the atmospheres of various planets and determine whether or not planets could be habitable and suitable for humans to possibly one day colonise. It is also interesting if "any lifeform" could exist on a planet.

This is a successor to the ageing Hubble Space Telescope. The long-delayed James Webb is named after NASA’s administrator during the 1960s. NASA certainly partnered with the European and Canadian space agencies to build and launch the new 7-tonne telescope, with thousands of people from 29 countries successfully working on it since the 1990s.

All around the whole world, various astronomers certainly had eagerly waited to see Webb finally taking flight after years of setbacks. It seems that last-minute technical snags bumped the launch nearly a week, then gusty wind pushed it to Christmas. Transporting the thing means it is shaking, so it has to be checked for perfection. It is also shaking during the space flight, and then later the mirrors and parts have to be perfectly aligned.

It is certainly a launch for humanity.

It seems that the launch was a a beautiful launch and everything went off without a hitch.

The telescope’s main showpiece is a gold-plated mirror more than 6.5 metres (21 feet) across.

Protecting the observatory is a wispy, 5-layered sunshield, vital for keeping the light-gathering mirror and heat-sensing infrared detectors at cold subzero temperatures. At 21 by 14 metres (70 by 46 feet), it is the size of a tennis court.

The plan is for the sunshield to be opened 3 days after liftoff, taking at least 5 days to unfold and lock into place. Next, the mirror segments should open up like the leaves of a drop-leaf table, 12 days or so into the fascinating space flight.

For the entire mission, hundreds of release mechanisms need to work perfectly in order for the telescope to succeed. This is really like nothing NASA has ever done before.

德國之聲顯示,革命性的望遠鏡已經發射升空,標誌著科學探索新時代的開始。

詹姆斯韋伯望遠鏡——以美國宇航局前任負責人的名字命名——從歐洲航天局位於法屬圭亞那的發射基地登上火箭升空。這次發射是歐洲、加拿大和美國航天機構幾十年艱苦工作的結晶。許多人稱這是世界上最強大的望遠鏡。

很高興知道發射進展順利(這件事沒有爆炸或任何類似的壞事)。

耗資 90 億美元的天文台將尋找來自遙遠恆星和星系的光,讓人們一瞥宇宙的創造。

耗資 90 億美元的天文台飛向 160 萬公里(100 萬英里)外的目的地——或者說是在月球之外的 4 倍以上。

美國宇航局的詹姆斯韋伯太空望遠鏡確實從南美洲東北海岸的法屬圭亞那起飛,週六乘坐歐洲的阿麗亞娜火箭進入早晨的天空。

下一步是望遠鏡的大鏡子和遮陽板需要展開。它們被折疊成摺紙式以適應火箭的鼻錐。這個任務是有風險的——希望不會有太多錯誤。

科學家們肯定能夠檢查各種行星的大氣層,並確定行星是否適合居住和適合人類有朝一日殖民。如果“任何生命形式”可以存在於行星上,這也很有趣。

這是老化的哈勃太空望遠鏡的繼任者。拖延已久的詹姆斯韋伯以 1960 年代美國宇航局管理員的名字命名。美國宇航局當然與歐洲和加拿大航天機構合作建造和發射了新的 7 噸望遠鏡,自 1990 年代以來,來自 29 個國家的數千人成功地致力於它的工作。

全世界的天文學家肯定都迫不及待地期待著韋伯在經歷了多年的挫折後終於起飛。似乎最後一刻的技術障礙將發射推向了近一周,然後陣風將其推到了聖誕節。運輸東西意味著它在搖晃,所以必須檢查它是否完美。它在太空飛行過程中也在晃動,然後鏡子和零件必須完美對齊。

這無疑是對人類的一次發射。

看來這次發射是一次美麗的發射,一切都順利進行。

該望遠鏡的主要展示品是一面超過 6.5 米(21 英尺)的鍍金鏡子。

保護天文台的是一個纖細的 5 層遮陽罩,對於將聚光鏡和熱敏紅外探測器保持在零度以下的寒冷溫度中至關重要。它有 21 x 14 米(70 x 46 英尺),有網球場那麼大。

計劃是在升空後 3 天打開遮陽板,至少需要 5 天才能展開並鎖定到位。接下來,在進入迷人的太空飛行 12 天左右後,鏡面部分應該像落葉桌的葉子一樣張開。

對於整個任務,數百個釋放機制需要完美地工作才能使望遠鏡成功。這真的是 NASA 以前從未做過的事情。

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