On July 25, Downtown Rotarians had a very special opportunity to learn about this fascinating project from the James Webb Space Telescope Project Manager, Bill Ochs. Bill is a friend and former colleague of Raven Aerostar President Jim Nelson, and graciously agreed to come present to our club in person. Bill shared an overview of the Webb Telescope, engineering challenges, the Webb Telescope launch, verifying Webb in space, and early science observations. In case you missed it, wanted to share it with others, or just wanted to watch the fascinating information again, here is the link: https://youtu.be/84AtKlW1qBE
You can also find ongoing published images here: https://webbtelescope.org/
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, a partnership with ESA (European Space Agency) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), released its first full-color images and spectroscopic data on July 12, 2022. You can view the images at: https://www.nasa.gov/webbfirstimages/
As the largest and most complex observatory ever launched into space, Webb has been going through a six-month period of preparation before it can begin science work, calibrating its instruments to its space environment and aligning its mirrors. This careful process, not to mention years of new technology development and mission planning, has built up to the first images and data: a demonstration of Webb at its full power, ready to begin its science mission and unfold the infrared universe.