- Ahead of its journey to its launch site, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is shown being lowered into its protective transport container in the Northrop Grumman clean room in Redondo Beach, California.
- The second drive will bring Webb from the Port de Pariacabo to its launch site of Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou.
- Due to its sheer size and weight, STTARS travelled at a speed of only 5–10 miles per hour (8–16 kilometres per hour) on the road to maintain a smooth ride.
- STTARS sailed to French Guiana inside MN Colibri’s cavernous cargo hold, protected from weather and the sea, along with other equipment and supplies for launch preparations.
When NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope launches, it will undergo one of the most harrowing deployment processes any spacecraft has ever endured. But before it even gets on top of its ride to space, Webb had to complete a final journey here on Earth: a roughly 5,800-mile (9,300-kilometer) voyage at sea as reported by PhysOrg.
Shipping the Webb
Webb was delivered from California on Sept. 26 and arrived in Port de Pariacabo on Oct. 12 after passing through the Panama Canal and arriving on the Kourou River in French Guiana, on the northeastern coast of South America.
Webb will now be transported to Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, where it will undergo two months of operational preparations before its scheduled launch on December 18th.
Nothing about this mission was ordinary, with the largest and most powerful space telescope ever built as payload.
A custom-made ‘suitcase’
Webb needed a massive, specially built “suitcase” called STTARS, which stands for Space Telescope Transporter for Air, Road, and Sea.
STTARS weights roughly 168,000 pounds (76,000 kg) (76,000 kilograms).
It measures 18 feet (5.5 metres) in height, 15 feet (4.6 metres) in width, and 110 feet (33.5 metres) in length—roughly twice as long as a semi-trailer.
Webb’s unique container was designed to withstand any harsh or unforeseen conditions he would face throughout his journey.
Engineers extensively investigated how to effectively protect the container from strong rainfall and other environmental conditions while developing, building, and testing STTARS.
Charting the course
The logistics of moving an extraordinarily large and extremely sensitive space telescope across two oceans are added to the equation with Webb.
I’m quite proud of our team—we’ve been working on this for quite some time.”
The second trip will take Webb from the Port de Pariacabo to Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, where it will launch.
STTARS went at a pace of 5–10 miles per hour (8–16 kilometres per hour) on the road to preserve a smooth ride due to its sheer size and weight.
In comparison, a drive from the Cayenne Airport to the launch site would have taken around two days, taking into account STTARS’ slow speeds and other constraints.
Sandra Irish, Webb at Goddard’s chief structural engineer, was in charge of making sure that no stresses would “rock the boat” past an acceptable level.
Running a clean ship
While on Earth, Webb, like other spacecraft, must be kept clean.
Half a micron is equal to one-hundredth of the width of a human hair!
Members used ultraviolet light to thoroughly verify each screw, nut, and bolt for remaining impurities.
Then, while both were inside the Northrop Grumman clean room, Webb was placed into STTARS.
STTARS, along with other equipment and supplies for launch preparations, sailed to French Guiana within MN Colibri’s vast cargo hold, sheltered from the elements and the water.
“Bringing this observatory to the very last spot it will be here on Earth was special,” he remarked.
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Source: PhysOrg
