I tested positive for Covid a week ago, probably picked up in the endless lines at the Charles de Gaulle airport. It hasn't been bad, like a cold with a lot of tiredness added in. I attribute some of that to jet lag and so far I don't have ambition to do much of anything except watch TV.
Yesterday morning was a January 6 Committee hearing and the first time I'd had a chance to see a full one. It was impressive. But what really impressed me yesterday were the first images taken by the Webb space telescope, and the time lapse video* of its creation that followed the presentation. I sat enthralled watching this complex machine being put together and tested and finally moved to the launch site, all at high speed.
The planning and engineering entailed in such a project was, of course, immense and awe inspiring. Pieces were brought from other sites and installed in a framework; it was moved several times for testing. Each move must have been planned years in advance because tolerances were so close. Any mishap might doom the project and white-clothed men and women in dust free environments appeared to run across vast warehouses to complete tasks. The responsibility must have been wearing for those who engineered the various mechanisms, and for those who actually touched them.
Each time the device was moved it required packing in elaborate protective casing. And with each move I found myself wondering, how did they know it would fit through that door? Was the room built for this single purpose? Silly perhaps, but so many decisions had to be made, often far in advance, and watching it happen at double or triple speed made every step feel consequential. What if one of those cables snapped? So many pieces to be checked and rechecked. Sometimes hundreds of people circled, climbed, observed or moved the precious object; quick-stepping through an elaborate dance choreographed in the past and evidenced in the present as high speed perfection.
Who planned all that? Who designed the framework, the mirrors, the sunshade? And who made all those pieces come together and fit together and work together? People working together. Finally I watched as two technicians on lifts accomplished a final task before it went into space, carefully removing protective covers on what might have been lenses. The tension was almost too much to bear.
The fact that Homo sapiens—whose prehistoric art I just saw on the walls of a cave in France—were able to design and construct this wonder seemed to me almost as incredible as seeing the first images from space. I'm still awestruck as I think about it. We are capable of accomplishing anything if we are united in a desired goal and willing to persevere through all the challenges our goal inevitably presents. The Webb telescope is expected to function at least 25 years and there's no doubt that it will change the way we and science think about the universe and our own beginnings.
But the building and successful launch of the telescope must also be celebrated. We should be proud that as a species we are capable of imagining, engineering, building, and sending into space this complex instrument devoted solely to knowledge, and to our incessant need to know more. From the caves to the stars; where will we go from here?
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*I tried to find this video on the nasa.gov site but the closest I got were pieces of it. Maybe not as compelling but it's worth watching a few.
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