Scientists and engineers operating NASAs James Webb Space Telescope will answer questions about the missions latest milestones in a NASA Science Live broadcast at 3 p.m. EST Monday, Jan. 24, followed by a media teleconference at 4 p.m.
The broadcast will air live online on the NASA Science Livewebsite, as well as YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. Audio of the teleconference will stream live on the agencys website.
Ground teams plan to fire Webbs thrusters at 2 p.m. Monday, Jan. 24 to insert the space telescope into orbit around the Sun at the second Lagrange point, or L2, its intended destination, nearly 1 million miles from Earth. This mid-course correction burn has long been planned for approximately 29 days after launch. This week, the mission operations team selected the target date and time for the burn. Engineers also finished remotely moving Webbs mirror segments out of their launch positions to begin the months-long process of aligning the telescopes optics.
Viewers of this episode, Whats Next for the James Webb Space Telescope? can submit questions on social media using the hashtag #UnfoldtheUniverse or by leaving a comment in the chat section of the Facebook or YouTube stream. Questions from the public will be answered by:
- Amber Straughn, deputy project scientist for Webb communications, NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland
- Scarlin Hernandez, flight systems engineer, Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore
Following the episode, NASA will host a media teleconference focused on the L2 insertion burn and mirror movements, as well as the next steps in preparing Webb to conduct science. The call will feature:
- Lee Feinberg, Webb optical telescope element manager, Goddard
- Amy Lo, Webb vehicle engineering lead, Northrop Grumman
- Keith Parrish, Webb observatory commissioning manager, Goddard
- Jane Rigby, Webb operations project scientist, Goddard
