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NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is beginning to come to life in deep space

The largest telescope mirror ever launched into space: on the ground and a million miles away from Earth. (NASA)

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4 years ago

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NASA has published some of the first recognizable photos taken by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the most capable space telescope ever created. 

On December 25th, 2021, the James Webb Space Telescope launched into orbit from South America’s Kourou, French Guiana spaceport, catching a ride on a European Ariane 5 rocket. After a 30-day voyage from the launch pad to an operational orbit approximately 1 million miles from Earth; weeks of maneuvering, orienting, and deploying hundreds of mechanical parts, the telescope has finally unveiled its first images from space – including an unexpectedly recognizable view of its vast primary mirror.

The array of images show a nondescript star (HD 84406) in the constellation Ursa Major that was chosen to support JWST calibration mainly because of how dim it is. Each image is created from light reflecting from each of Webb’s 18 main mirror segments, which together make up the 6.5-meter-wide (21 ft) primary mirror of the telescope. In this instance, those images were reflected into a secondary mirror and then recorded by the Near Infrared Camera (NIRCAM). Eventually, if all goes well during the lengthy calibration and commissioning process, all 18 mirror segments will be aligned to the level of individual wavelengths of light (nanometer precision) and focused until all 18 photos of star HD 84406 become one. Finally, each of the telescopes many complex instruments must also be calibrated.

This image mosaic was created by pointing the telescope at a bright, isolated star in the constellation Ursa Major known as HD 84406. This star was chosen specifically because it is easily identifiable and not crowded by other stars of similar brightness, which helps to reduce background confusion. Each dot within the mosaic is labeled by the corresponding primary mirror segment that captured it. These initial results closely match expectations and simulations. (NASA)

Image capture operations started on February 2nd. Webb was repositioned 156 times to properly capture images of HD 84406 and after 25 hours, JWST was able to locate the star within all 18 mirror segments and generated 1,560 images using NIRCam’s 10 detectors, amounting to 54 gigabytes of raw data.

“This initial search covered an area about the size of the full Moon because the segment dots could potentially have been that spread out on the sky,” said Marshall Perrin, deputy telescope scientist for Webb and an astronomer at the Space Telescope Science Institute. “Taking so much data right on the first day required all of Webb’s science operations and data processing systems here on Earth working smoothly with the observatory in space right from the start. And we found light from all 18 segments very near the center early in that search! This is a great starting point for mirror alignment.”

Additionally, NASA shared an unexpected, ghostly “selfie” that the observatory took of its primary mirror array with a crucial instrument known as NIRCAM (short for Near-Infrared Camera).

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“Moving forward, Webb’s images will only become clearer, more detail-laden, and more intricate as its other three instruments arrive at their intended cryogenic operating temperatures and begin capturing data. The first scientific images are expected to be delivered to the world in the summer of 2022. Though this is a big moment, confirming that Webb is a functional telescope, there is much ahead to be done in the coming months to prepare the observatory for full scientific operations using all four of its instruments.” (NASA)

Because Webb prioritizes weak infrared wavelengths of light to detect extraordinarily distant objects in our universe, the entire business side of the telescope – included all mirrors, sensors, and most instruments – must be kept incredibly cold – closer to absolute zero than any temperature humans are familiar with. The telescope uses a tennis-court-sized multilayer sun shield to protect itself from the heat of the sun, which it must be constantly exposed to in order to power itself with solar arrays. The outermost layer will always face the Sun and reflect most of its heat, operating at a scorching 230 degrees Fahrenheit. But each layer of the shield will become cooler and cooler so that JWST’s instruments stay cryogenic, operating around -370 degrees Fahrenheit. 

The James Webb Space Telescope is the world’s largest, most powerful, and most complex space-based observatory ever built. If commissioning ends as successfully as launch, deployment, and early alignment, Webb will one day help solve mysteries of our own solar system, look beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probe the mysterious structures and origins of our universe. Webb is an international program led (and mostly funded) by NASA alongside partners ESA (European Space Agency) and CSA (Canadian Space Agency).

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Monica Pappas is a space flight enthusiast living on Florida's Space Coast. As a spaceflight reporter, her goal is to share stories about established and upcoming spaceflight companies. She hopes to share her excitement for the tremendous changes coming in the next few years for human spaceflight.

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Tesla sends clear message to Waymo with latest Austin Robotaxi move

It is the first expansion Tesla has made in Austin since the one on August 26. The company still operates in the Bay Area of California as well, referring to that program specifically as a “ride-hailing service.”

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29 minutes ago

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October 28, 2025

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla has sent a clear message to Waymo with its latest move to its Robotaxi program in Austin, Texas.

Tesla and Waymo are the two true leaders in autonomous ride-hailing to an extent. Tesla has what many believe is a lot of potential due to its prowess with the Supervised Full Self-Driving suite. It is also operating a driverless Robotaxi service in Austin with a “Safety Monitor” that sits in the passenger’s seat.

Tesla explains why Robotaxis now have safety monitors in the driver’s seat

The two companies have been competing heavily in the market since they both launched driverless ride-hailing services in Austin this year: Waymo’s in March and Tesla’s in June.

One of the main drivers in the competition between the two is service area size, or the geofence in which the cars will operate without a driver. In August, the two were tied with a service area of about 90 square miles (233.099 sq. km).

Tesla then expanded to about 170 square miles (440.298 sq. km) on August 26, dwarfing Waymo’s service area and expanding to freeways. Tesla’s freeway operation of the Robotaxi suite requires the Safety Monitor to be in the driver’s seat for safety reasons.

On Tuesday evening, Tesla made another move that sent a clear message to Waymo, as it expanded once again, this time to 243 square miles (629.367 sq. km).

This is according to Robotracker:

It is the first expansion Tesla has made in Austin since the one on August 26. The company still operates in the Bay Area of California as well, referring to that program specifically as a “ride-hailing service.”

Yesterday, it expanded that service to the San Jose Mineta International Airport, something it has been working on for several months.

Waymo has its own set of distinct advantages over Tesla as well, as it operates in more cities and states than the EV maker. Waymo currently has its autonomous vehicle services in Phoenix, Arizona, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin, and Atlanta, Georgia.

Tesla plans to have half of the U.S. population with access to the Robotaxi platform by the end of the year.

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Tesla exec reveals shock development with Cybercab

“If we have to have a steering wheel, it can have a steering wheel and pedals.”

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10 hours ago

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October 28, 2025

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(Credit: Teslarati)

Tesla is planning to launch the Cybercab in the second quarter of next year, and it is designed to be fully autonomous, so much so that the company is planning to build it without a steering wheel or pedals.

However, a Tesla executive said today that the company could ditch that idea altogether in what would be a major shift from the plans the company, and especially its CEO Elon Musk, have announced for the Cybercab.

Earlier today, Robyn Denholm, the company’s Chair for the Board of Directors, revealed that Tesla would potentially switch up its plans for the Cybercab based on potential regulatory requirements.

Credit: Tesla Europe & Middle East | X

Currently, even autonomous vehicles that operate for companies like Tesla and Waymo are required to have steering wheels and pedals. From a regulatory perspective, this could halt the plans Tesla has for Cybercab.

Denholm said in an interview with Bloomberg:

“If we have to have a steering wheel, it can have a steering wheel and pedals.”

Interestingly, Musk and Tesla have not veered away from the idea that the vehicle will be without these operational must-haves.

Since the vehicle was revealed last October at the We, Robot event in Los Angeles, Tesla has maintained that the car would be built without a steering wheel or pedals, and would equip two seats, which is what is statistically most popular in ride-sharing, as the vast majority of rides have only one or two passengers.

Musk doubled down on the plans for Cybercab as recently as last week, when he said:

“That’s really a vehicle that’s optimized for full autonomy. It, in fact, does not have a steering wheel or pedals and is really an enduring optimization on minimizing cost per mile for fully considered cost per mile of operation. For our other vehicles, they still have a little bit of the horse carriage thing going on where, obviously, if you’ve got steering wheels and pedals and you’re designing a car that people might want to go very direct past acceleration and tight cornering, like high-performance cars, then you’re going to design a different car than one that is optimized for a comfortable ride and doesn’t expect to go past sort of 85 or 90 miles an hour.”

Cybercab is fully conceptualized as a vehicle that has zero need for pedals or a steering wheel because it is aimed toward being fully reliant on a Level 5 autonomous platform.

Tesla is ramping its hiring for Cybercab vehicle manufacturing roles

Regulators could get in the way of this, however, and although the car could drive itself and be a great solution for ride-hailing, it might need to have these controls to hit the road in the future.

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SpaceX opens up free Starlink service for those impacted by Hurricane Melissa

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12 hours ago

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October 28, 2025

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(Credit: Starlink | X)

SpaceX is opening up its internet service, Starlink, to those impacted by Hurricane Melissa, as it made landfall in Jamaica and the Bahamas as a Category 5 storm.

Hurricane Melissa is expected to reach wind speeds of over 165 MPH over the next few days as it extends out into the Atlantic Ocean by Thursday and Friday.

Citizens in Jamaica and the Bahamas have been preparing for the storm for the past week, getting necessary goods together and preparing for the massive storm to arrive. It finally did yesterday, and the first images and video of the storm are showing that it could destroy many parts of both countries.

Starlink is now being opened up for free until the end of November for those impacted by the storm in Jamaica and the Bahamas, SpaceX announced today:

It is a move similar to the one the company made last year as Hurricane Helene made its way through the United States, destroying homes and property across the East Coast. SpaceX offered free service for those impacted by the destruction caused by the storm.

The free Starlink service was available until the end of 2024.

Elon Musk’s companies have also made similar moves to help out those who are impacted by natural disasters. Tesla has offered Free Supercharging in the past, most notably during the California wildfires.

Tesla and SpaceX’s LA fire relief efforts: Cybertrucks, free Starlink and more

One major advantage of Starlink is that it is available for use in situations like this one, where power might be required to operate things like a modem and router.

Internet access is a crucial part of survival in these situations, especially as it can be the last leg some stand on to get in touch with emergency services or loved ones.

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