Month: January 2022

Enlarge / Giving a little joy. (credit: xJasonRogersx / Flickr)

One month ago, we asked readers to donate to a couple of good causes in our 2021 Charity Drive sweepstakes. And boy, did you deliver. With the drive now complete and the donations all tallied, we can report that Ars Technica readers gave an incredible $40,261.71 to Child’s Play and the EFF in the last month. That doesn’t quite set a new record, but it surpasses our total charity haul for every annual charity drive except 2020. All told, Ars Charity Drive donations since 2007 now total over $435,000. Well done, Arsians!

Thanks to everyone who gave whatever they could. We’re still early in the process of selecting and notifying winners of our swag giveaway, so don’t fret if you haven’t heard if you’re a winner yet. In the meantime, enjoy these quick stats from the 2021 drive.

• 2021 Fundraising total: $40,261.71
  • Total given to Child’s Play: $15,919.90
  • Total given to the EFF: $24,341.81
• Number of individual donations: 359
  • Child’s Play donations: 166
  • EFF donations: 193
• Average donation: $112.15
  • Child’s Play average donation: $95.90
  • EFF average donation: $126.12
• Median donation: $51.80
  • Median Child’s Play donation: $50.00
  • Median EFF donation: $66.95
• Top single donation: $4,000 (to EFF)
• Donations of $1,000 or more: 7 (!)
• Donations of $100 or more: 134
• $5 or less donations: 3 (every little bit helps!)
• Total charity donations from Ars Technica drives since 2007 (approximate): $435,126.83
  • 2021: $40,261.71
  • 2020: $58,758.11
  • 2019: $33,181.11
  • 2018: $20,210.66
  • 2017: $36,012.37
  • 2016: $38,738.11
  • 2015: $38,861.06
  • 2014: $25,094.31
  • 2013: $23,570.13
  • 2012: $28,713.52
  • 2011: ~$26,000
  • 2010: ~$24,000
  • 2009: ~$17,000
  • 2008: ~$12,000
  • 2007: ~$10,000

Enlarge / The Ariane 5 rocket, with the James Webb Space Telescope, at its launch site in French Guiana. (credit: ESA/S. Corvaja)

There were two stunningly good pieces of news about the James Webb Space Telescope this weekend. One was widely reported—that after an intricate, two-week process, the telescope completed its deployment without any difficulties. The next steps toward science operations are more conventional.

The other piece of news, less well-covered but still important, emerged during a news conference on Saturday. NASA’s Mission Systems Engineer for the Webb telescope, Mike Menzel, said the agency had completed its analysis of how much “extra” fuel remained on board the telescope. Roughly speaking, Menzel said, Webb has enough propellant on board for 20 years of life.

This is twice the conservative pre-launch estimate for Webb’s lifetime of a decade, and it largely comes down to the performance of the European Ariane 5 rocket that launched Webb on a precise trajectory on Christmas Day.