Jan 22, 2022

Monday's The Final stop for The Web space telescope

 from a great CBS story:



"....a 4-minute 58-second course correction thruster firing is planned Monday at 2 p.m. EST to change the spacecraft's velocity by 3.4 mph, just enough to put it in a distant orbit around Lagrange Point 2.*

If all goes well, the telescope will remain in that six-month orbit for the rest of its operational life, firing its thruster periodically to remain on station."

 

*...2, 930,000 miles from Earth where the gravity of sun and Earth combine to form a pocket of stability that allows spacecraft to remain in place with a minimum expenditure of fuel.

NASA has a page dedicated to showing just where the space telescope is at any given moment during its journey...and how long and far it has yet to travel to reach Lagrance Point 2. 

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