4 ms·

I imagine I'm not the only one, but every time I hear/see anything about JWT I just find myself muttering 'please work please work please work' audibly under my

by avs733 5y ago

I imagine I'm not the only one, but every time I hear/see anything about JWT I just find myself muttering 'please work please work please work' audibly under my breath.

throwanem 5y ago
You know it runs Javascript, right? [1] I mean, as long as you're worrying... (Before anyone starts hollering, I earn my bread and butter in the same language, and that'll be what makes me a millionaire in the unlikely event anything ever does. But on the other hand, somebody's gonna mention it, and I suppose it may as well be me.) [1] https://www.stsci.edu/~idash/pub/dashevsky0607rcsgso.pdf https://www.stsci.edu/~idash/pub/dashevsky0607rcsgso.pdf sections 3.1, 3.5, 4.2ff.
- mkr-hn 5y ago
  No one would lament JavaScript if every implementation was as robust as the few that go to space.
  - throwanem 5y ago
    In entire fairness, nothing we usually work on costs thousands of dollars per kilogram to send somebody to fix it, either.
    - rozab 5y ago
      JWST was never designed to be serviceable, because it's so far away[0]. It would probably be possibe to get a crew to L2 with our new SLS/Orion capability (with costly modifications)[1], but I don't think this was really anticipated back when JWST was designed. And once they get there, effecting a repair would be the equivalent of patching an executable with no source code, in production. [0]: https://jwst.nasa.gov/content/forScientists/faqScientists.html#astronauts https://jwst.nasa.gov/content/forScientists/faqScientists.ht... [1]: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The-crew-segment-of-the-L2-Farside-mission-can-be-performed-using-a-single-SLS-along_fig4_233409383 https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The-crew-segment-of-the-...
- danielvf 5y ago
  > The JWST science operations will be driven by ASCII (instead of binary command blocks) on-board scripts, written in a customized version of JavaScript. The script interpreter is run by the flight software, which is written in C++. > The flight software operates the spacecraft and the science instruments. The on-board scripts will autonomously construct and issue commands, as well as telemetry requests, in real-time to the flight software, to direct the Observatory Subsystems (e.g., Science Instruments, Attitude Control, etc.). The flight software will execute the command sent by the calling on-board script and return telemetry, which will be evaluated in real-time by that on-board script. The calling script will then send status information to a higher-level on-board script, which contains the logic to skip forward in the observing plan in response to certain events (see Section 4.1).
- dylan604 5y ago
  Maybe NaN will come to mean Not a Nebula
  - mkr-hn 5y ago
    There's CoffeeScript in that nebula.
sillyquiet 5y ago
I am not an astronomer or involved in this project but I am crazily nervous and excited for the launch, orbital placement and deployment of this telescope. It seems sooo epochal and important.
bpodgursky 5y ago
I'm ambivalent. It's crazy expensive and will be cool, but with the improvements in satellite constellations, launch capabilities, and sensor aggregation that are coming out over the next 5-10 years, I suspect we're going to get platforms that surpass the JWST's capabilities much sooner than anyone thinks
- ceejayoz 5y ago
  Maybe, but that's OK! Hubble's still plugging away doing good science. We'll get platforms better than JWST, but it'll be a while before we've got enough telescopes in orbit to fulfill every potential good avenue of research/observation.

by avs733 5y ago

I imagine I'm not the only one, but every time I hear/see anything about JWT I just find myself muttering 'please work please work please work' audibly under my breath.

throwanem 5y ago

You know it runs Javascript, right? [1] I mean, as long as you're worrying... (Before anyone starts hollering, I earn my bread and butter in the same language, and that'll be what makes me a millionaire in the unlikely event anything ever does. But on the other hand, somebody's gonna mention it, and I suppose it may as well be me.) [1] https://www.stsci.edu/~idash/pub/dashevsky0607rcsgso.pdf https://www.stsci.edu/~idash/pub/dashevsky0607rcsgso.pdf sections 3.1, 3.5, 4.2ff.

mkr-hn 5y ago
No one would lament JavaScript if every implementation was as robust as the few that go to space.
- throwanem 5y ago
  In entire fairness, nothing we usually work on costs thousands of dollars per kilogram to send somebody to fix it, either.
  - rozab 5y ago
    JWST was never designed to be serviceable, because it's so far away[0]. It would probably be possibe to get a crew to L2 with our new SLS/Orion capability (with costly modifications)[1], but I don't think this was really anticipated back when JWST was designed. And once they get there, effecting a repair would be the equivalent of patching an executable with no source code, in production. [0]: https://jwst.nasa.gov/content/forScientists/faqScientists.html#astronauts https://jwst.nasa.gov/content/forScientists/faqScientists.ht... [1]: https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The-crew-segment-of-the-L2-Farside-mission-can-be-performed-using-a-single-SLS-along_fig4_233409383 https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The-crew-segment-of-the-...
danielvf 5y ago
> The JWST science operations will be driven by ASCII (instead of binary command blocks) on-board scripts, written in a customized version of JavaScript. The script interpreter is run by the flight software, which is written in C++. > The flight software operates the spacecraft and the science instruments. The on-board scripts will autonomously construct and issue commands, as well as telemetry requests, in real-time to the flight software, to direct the Observatory Subsystems (e.g., Science Instruments, Attitude Control, etc.). The flight software will execute the command sent by the calling on-board script and return telemetry, which will be evaluated in real-time by that on-board script. The calling script will then send status information to a higher-level on-board script, which contains the logic to skip forward in the observing plan in response to certain events (see Section 4.1).
dylan604 5y ago
Maybe NaN will come to mean Not a Nebula
- mkr-hn 5y ago
  There's CoffeeScript in that nebula.

sillyquiet 5y ago

I am not an astronomer or involved in this project but I am crazily nervous and excited for the launch, orbital placement and deployment of this telescope. It seems sooo epochal and important.

bpodgursky 5y ago

I'm ambivalent. It's crazy expensive and will be cool, but with the improvements in satellite constellations, launch capabilities, and sensor aggregation that are coming out over the next 5-10 years, I suspect we're going to get platforms that surpass the JWST's capabilities much sooner than anyone thinks

ceejayoz 5y ago
Maybe, but that's OK! Hubble's still plugging away doing good science. We'll get platforms better than JWST, but it'll be a while before we've got enough telescopes in orbit to fulfill every potential good avenue of research/observation.