A small update on the scheduled launch date for the $ 10 billion James Web Space Telescope came from NASA on Monday, and it’s not exactly heartbreaking information.
The “early” launch date for the large space telescope would be from December 18 to December 22, after which an “incident” occurred during processing at the launch pad in Crowe, French Guiana. It is there that the telescope will be launched on the Ariane 5 rocket provided by the European Space Agency.
Technicians are preparing to combine heat with the rocket vehicle adapter used to integrate the lab with the top of the Ariane 5 rocket, NASA said. Said in the blog post… “The sudden and unplanned launch of the tie-down tape that protects the web launcher adapter has resonated throughout the watchtower.”
Honestly, words like “incident”, “suddenness” and “vibration” are not expressions we would like to hear when handling a tool as complex and almost irreplaceable as a web telescope. However, NASA, the European Space Agency and rocket operator Arianespace have plans to move forward.
NASA is investigating the anomaly analysis team and is conducting further testing to confirm that the incident did not damage any part of the telescope. NASA announced that it will provide an update upon completion of tests this weekend. A senior source at the space agency said the tests are ahead of schedule and that the December 22 launch date will be rescheduled unless some serious issues are identified.
Any setbacks that happen now on Webb’s path to liberation are especially painful, since there is a long and long way to go until then. NASA’s tracking device for the Hubble Space Telescope was launched ten years ago at a cost of $ 1 billion. Since then, due to technical problems and delays, the complex telescope has been destroyed.
The web is difficult to create because its 6.5-meter glass must expand on its own when it reaches an orbit 1.5 million kilometers from Earth. This is a very complicated process, and there are more than 300 unique points in the monitoring center. NASA is having difficulty testing everything on Earth under conditions that reflect the temperature, pressure, and microgravity of deep space.
Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA’s chief scientist, said it is important for NASA to make sure the telescope is in good condition before it launches on Monday. “I hope the team will do whatever it takes to prepare the heat for exploring the past of our universe,” he wrote. No Twitter… “Of course it’s worth the wait.”
