Since its inception in 1958, America’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has contributed greatly to man’s scientific knowledge. The list of accomplishments, inventions, and spinoff technologies are endless. NASA has taken man to the moon, operated Space Shuttles, sent spacecraft to Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Pluto, Saturn, and the Sun, and jointly developed the International Space Station, to name a few. The latest venture is the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). The $10 billion instrument, built with contributions from the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), is the largest, most powerful and complicated telescope ever constructed. It took 30 years to build. It is the size of a tennis court and requires a five-layer sunshield to maintain its instruments at -388 degrees F. It is deployed in space orbit at about 930,000 miles from Earth. It is designed to have seven times more light-gathering ability than the Hubble Space Telescope, and can view objects up to 100 times fainter and detect mid-infrared light beyond the visible spectrum. It was launched from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana on December 25, and by January 8 the large-scale deployments of its tripods, mirror wings, and sunshield had been carried out successfully. Aligning and fine tuning the optics will take at least three months. The Hubble Space Telescope was launched in 1990 and is still in service, having exceeded its life expectancy. It was repaired and upgraded by five Space Shuttle missions, but with the retirement of the Shuttles in 2011 that is no longer possible. The Hubble has taken breathtaking photos of God’s beautiful universe and given man new understanding of his macro environment by the tools of true science (as opposed to evolutionary mythology). The Hubble has shown us the glory of the Almighty Creator. “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork” (Psalm 19:1). (For a description and animation of the James Web Space Telescope – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEaTnztV6OA )
(Friday Church News Notes, January 14, 2022, www.wayoflife.org, fbns@wayoflife.org, 866-295-4143)