NASA to Deploy Massive Heat Shield after Launch of James Webb Space Telescope

The James Webb Space Telescope is packed up for shipment to its launch site in Kourou, French Guiana in an undated photograph at Northrop Grumman's Space Park in Redondo Beach, California. NASA/Handout via Reuters
The James Webb Space Telescope is packed up for shipment to its launch site in Kourou, French Guiana in an undated photograph at Northrop Grumman's Space Park in Redondo Beach, California. NASA/Handout via Reuters
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NASA to Deploy Massive Heat Shield after Launch of James Webb Space Telescope

The James Webb Space Telescope is packed up for shipment to its launch site in Kourou, French Guiana in an undated photograph at Northrop Grumman's Space Park in Redondo Beach, California. NASA/Handout via Reuters
The James Webb Space Telescope is packed up for shipment to its launch site in Kourou, French Guiana in an undated photograph at Northrop Grumman's Space Park in Redondo Beach, California. NASA/Handout via Reuters

After years of delay, and massive cost over-runs, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) was launched on Christmas Day. It will need to perform complex automated operations now it’s in space, reported The Guardian.

The first and most challenging is happening this week: unfurling a heat shield the size of a tennis court. After this, its 6.5-meter mirror must be assembled from 18 pieces packed within the launching rocket’s nosecone. There’s much that can go wrong, and astronomers will remain anxious for the several months that will elapse before all necessary maneuvers and tests are completed.

After the Hubble Space Telescope was launched more than 30 years ago, its mirror turned out to be poorly aligned. But astronauts undertook a “rescue” mission to make adjustments and later made further visits to upgrade the instruments.

The stakes are higher for the JWST: it’s vastly more elaborate, but there is no prospect of a repair mission. The Hubble telescope was in a low (and accessible) orbit: in contrast, the JWST’s orbit will be several times further away than the moon – far beyond the reach of astronauts. Some might argue that we therefore need to instigate more ambitious plans for human spaceflight: to enable human assembly of large structures in deep space, to return to the moon, and eventually to reach Mars.

Space technology has burgeoned – for communication, environmental monitoring, satnav and so forth. We depend on it every day. Unmanned probes to other planets have beamed back pictures of varied and distinctive worlds. And telescopes in space have revolutionized our knowledge of the cosmos.

During this century, the whole solar system will be explored by flotillas of miniaturized probes, far more advanced than, for instance, Nasa’s wonderful Cassini probe, which spent 13 years exploring Saturn and its moons. This was launched 20 years ago and based on 1990s technology.



Google Offers to Loosen Search Deals in US Antitrust Case Remedy

The Google sign is shown on one of the company's office buildings in Irvine, California, US, October 20, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Blake
The Google sign is shown on one of the company's office buildings in Irvine, California, US, October 20, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Blake
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Google Offers to Loosen Search Deals in US Antitrust Case Remedy

The Google sign is shown on one of the company's office buildings in Irvine, California, US, October 20, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Blake
The Google sign is shown on one of the company's office buildings in Irvine, California, US, October 20, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Blake

Alphabet's Google proposed on Friday a loosening of its agreements with Apple and others to set Google as the default search engine on new devices, in a bid to address a US ruling that it unlawfully dominates online search.

The proposal is muchu narrower than the government's push to make Google sell its Chrome browser, which Google called a drastic attempt to intervene in the search market.

Google urged US District Judge Amit Mehta in Washington to move cautiously in deciding what the company must do to restore competition, after his ruling that the company holds an illegal monopoly in online search and related advertising. Courts have cautioned against imposing antitrust remedies that chill innovation, Google said in court papers.

That is especially true "in an environment where remarkable artificial intelligence innovations are rapidly changing how people interact with many online products and services, including search engines," Google said.

While Google plans to appeal that ruling at the end of the case, it says the upcoming "remedies" phase should focus on its distribution agreements with browser developers, mobile device manufacturers, and wireless carriers.

The judge found the agreements give Google a "major, largely unseen advantage over its rivals" and result in most devices in the US coming pre-loaded with Google's search engine.

The agreements are hard to exit, the judge said, especially for Android manufacturers, which must agree to install Google search in order to include Google's Play Store on their devices.

To fix that, Google could make them non-exclusive and, for Android phone manufacturers, unbundle its Play Store from Chrome and search, the company said in its proposal.

Google would allow browser developers that agree to set its search engine as the default to revisit that decision annually under the proposal.

REVENUE SHARING

Unlike the government's proposal, Google's would not end revenue sharing agreements, which pass a portion of ad revenue Google makes from search to the device and software companies that present it as the default search engine.

Independent browser developers including Mozilla, which makes Firefox, have said the funds are crucial to their operations. Apple received an estimated $20 billion from its agreement with Google in 2022 alone.

Kamyl Bazbaz, spokesperson for search engine competitor DuckDuckGo, said the proposal attempts to maintain the status quo.

"Once a court finds a violation of competition laws, the remedy must not only stop the illegal conduct and prevent its recurrence, but restore competition in the affected markets," he said.

Google's proposal sets the stage for a trial Mehta will hold in April, where the US Department of Justice and a coalition of states will seek to show the need for wide-ranging remedies, including making Google sell off Chrome and potentially its Android mobile operating system.

The government plans to call witnesses from OpenAI, AI search startup Perplexity, and Microsoft, according to court papers.

Prosecutors also want Google to stop paying to be the default search engine, and cease investments in search rivals and query-based AI products, and license its search results and technology to rivals.

The proposals aim to spur innovation in online search, where Mehta found Google's overwhelming market share keeps competitors from gathering the search data needed to improve their products, and prevent Google from extending its dominance in search to AI.