The Insane Engineering of James Webb Telescope

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Credits:
Writer/Narrator: Brian McManus
Editor: Dylan Hennessy
Animator: Mike Ridolfi
Sound: Graham Haerther
Thumbnail: Simon Buckmaster

References:
[5]

Select imagery/video supplied by Getty Images
Thank you to AP Archive for access to their archival footage.

Thank you to my patreon supporters: Adam Flohr, Henning Basma, Hank Green, William Leu, Tristan Edwards, Ian Dundore, John & Becki Johnston. Nevin Spoljaric, Jason Clark, Thomas Barth, Johnny MacDonald, Stephen Foland, Alfred Holzheu, Abdulrahman Abdulaziz Binghaith, Brent Higgins, Dexter Appleberry, Alex Pavek, Marko Hirsch, Mikkel Johansen, Hibiyi Mori. Viktor Józsa, Ron Hochsprung

[wockyslush]

Back in 5th grade I went on a field trip to the NASA Goddard facility and we got to see parts of the satallite being built. Years later, I graduated high school, and they're about to launch it in 4 days.

[mikeg]

We don't even blink at an annual defense budget of nearly 800 billion dollars, but many are startled at this telescope project costing 10 billion (over the course of a number of years). We have strange priorities as a species.

[justusweustink]

As a high school physics teacher I'm so thrilled to use this video as education material after the summer break. Truly wonderful!

[rogerwilco]

The Mid InfraRed Instrument (MIRI) was made by colleagues of me at my job at Astron in the Netherlands.
This instrument is truly international in scope.

[giantWario]

Just wanna add the launch went so well that it will double the lifespan of the James Webb telescope. They ended up using much less fuel than they thought they would need to put it in the Lagrange point.

[jimtekkit]

The JWST cryo cooling system is just something else entirely. I work as an engineer on land vehicle cooling systems, and the thing about cooling systems is you don't realise how little you understand about the science behind active heat transfer systems until you actually start designing them. The designers would have had to simulate and account for every single joule of thermal energy throughout the entire telescope, and then design such a cutting edge active cooling system with moving parts that can last for decades of non-stop operation with no servicing and with no allowances for failure. How many times the engineers would have woken up at night in a cold sweat! I'm not even one bit surprised that it cost $150 million to design.

[edkostiuk]

NASA, after all these years I still get excited watching your explorations. As a teen, I sat in front of a black and white and watched as the clock ticked down with Shepard in Freedom 7. Then Glenn, followed by the other 5 Mercury pilots. Then Neil took the first step and we thought this is it we are reaching the stars and there is no stopping us.

Years later I was part of the Search team in East Texas praying every time we found the astronauts. Congratulations to all the men and women around the world that made history with Webb.

[santoshkadam]

Human determination has no no boundaries. From being mere hunters to creating super complex james web telescope, progress is unbelievable.

[fflaguna]

Real Engineering, whoever did your visuals for this episode was EXTREMELY talented and clearly understood the subject matter! Keep using this person!

[cQDHPavXTqemmVsbgiTVx]

this is absolutely insane. The sheer amount of precision and ingenuity it takes to accomplish something like this.. Imagine if the defense budget was directly towards aerospace engineering..

[ScragNath]

As a steel fabricator, Swinging my 22 pound long shaft hammer accurately was always a proud achievement. This takes engineering to a different level. (Hope you appreciate the light hearted comment). Well impressed with this presentation.

[trutharrow]

The graphics is incredible. The attention to detail was almost as good as the heat shield

[ElementofKindness]

This is the most extensive description I've seen about this telescope, and I am absolutely blown away by how many challenges that it must address. If successful, it is definitely one of the top wonders of humanity.

[invernomuto]

Thank you for this. Sometimes, looking at all the suffering caused nowadays by sheer human ignorance and greed, one comes to believe that idiocy is almost the standard human condition. However, thinking about people like Mike and all the amazing experts on the Webb and Ariane team working to push the limits of science with sheer passion and humble intelligence makes me proud to share with them and all of us that same fundamental nature that turns all of our eyes to the sky on a clear night.

[jonaslken]

When I watched this for the first time, it lit a spark inside me. Now a month later, we are going to write a text to inform the reader about the subject. I chose this to be my subject, and I realize now how well made this video is. Thank you, now you have made me a space
enthusiast.

[IsMaski]

After you talked about the points of failures, I'm absolutely terrified for the launch and the coming days where the JWTS unfolds itself. Fingers crossed that everything goes as planned and the decades of hard work from the engineers all pays off.

[DashFlashTheLife]

"Pulse tube cryo-cooler" We've finally reached the point where real life has become science fiction. The first photo this telescope takes will no doubt be one of humanity's greatest achievements, hats off to a long and successful life from this marvel of technology!

[ronkirk]

Boldly going where no telescope has gone before to see back in time to the very birth of the universe. Heady stuff and of particular interest to me as a retired mechanical engineer and Astronomy buff. Awesome video! Many thanks.

[buffytherussian]

It makes me so glad to say, that as of June 6th 2022, this telescope is successfully deployed, and will transmit its first official images in just over a month from now, July 12 2022. Human engineering is amazing.

[chamous]

The level of engineering and physics required is insane ! huge respect to all the people working on this project.