After Decades Working on James Webb Space Telescope, Astronomer Marcia Rieke on the Anticipation of its Orbit

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KQED

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 656 Ratings

🗓️ 24 January 2022

⏱️ 36 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

After one month and 1.5 million kilometers of travel since its launch on Christmas, the James Webb Space Telescope is set to reach its orbit destination Monday. It’s the beginning of a profound shift in the way we see deep space: the telescope will be able to look back 13.7 billion years back in time. To get to this point has taken 10 billion dollars and a quarter of a century of work. For nearly all of that time, astronomer Marcia Rieke was on the project. As she waits for the telescope to thrust into orbit, we’ll talk with her about what it’s like to see a career’s worth of preparation finally come to fruition and what she hopes to learn from the telescope’s journey. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:00.0	Support for KQWED podcasts comes from Landmark College, commemorating 40 years of educating people who learn differently, with programs on campus and online for both students and professionals.
0:12.0	Learn more at landmark.edu.
0:14.7	Support for forum comes from Broadway SF, presenting Parade, the musical revival based on a true story. From three-time Tony-winning composer
0:24.0	Jason Robert Brown comes the story of Leo and Lucille Frank, a newlywed Jewish couple struggling to
0:30.8	make a life in Georgia. When Leo is accused of an unspeakable crime, it propels them into an
0:37.1	unimaginable test of faith,
0:39.3	humanity, justice, and devotion. The riveting and gloriously hopeful parade plays the Orphium
0:46.1	Theater for three weeks only, May 20th through June 8th. Tickets on sale now at BroadwaysF.com.
0:55.6	From KQED.
1:01.0	From KQED in San Francisco, I'm Alexis Madrigal.
1:11.5	For 24 years, University of Arizona astronomer Marcia Rickey has worked on the James Webb Space Telescope Project.
1:19.3	Finally, a million miles from Earth, far from our satellites and the Hubble, the spacecraft will hit its burners today to drop into a point of relative stability between the Earth and the sun.
1:30.4	It's the next big step on the path to making entirely new types of observations of the universe,
1:36.4	and Dr. Riki will give us a big update.
1:38.7	Then we're talking salmon sightings in Bay Area Bodies of Water.
1:42.9	I never even imagined there might be salmon in Lake Merritt,
1:45.5	so why did it happen this year?
1:46.8	And what does it mean for our local fisheries?
1:48.9	That's all next after this news.
1:54.3	Welcome to Forum.
1:59.6	I'm Alexis Madrigal.
2:01.5	The James Webb Space Telescope could play a defining role in helping humans understand our place in the universe.
	...

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