James Webb Space Telescope will miss its planned March 2021 launch

[Shawn Knight]

In brief: NASA has confirmed that the James Webb Space Telescope won't be ready in time for its scheduled March 2021 launch. For once, the delay isn't the result of mismanagement or cost concerns, but rather, the global pandemic.

Thomas Zurbuchen, the associate administrator for the science mission directorate at NASA, revealed during a recent online meeting of the Space Studies Board that the James Webb Space Telescope will not launch in March 2021 as scheduled.

NASA, if you recall, said in late March that it was suspending integration and testing operations on the telescope due to Covid-19 containment measures. That was apparently only partially correct as, according to Space News, some activities did continue albeit at a slower pace than before the pandemic.

“We will not launch in March,” Zurbuchen said during the meeting, per Ars Technica. “Absolutely we will not launch in March. That is not in the cards right now. That's not because they did anything wrong. It's not anyone's fault or mismanagement,” he added.

That’s no surprise, really, considering the project was already on the brink of being postponed for the umpteenth time. Even before the pandemic, the US Government Accountability Office concluded that there was just a 12 percent chance that the telescope would meet its scheduled March 2021 launch.

The James Webb Telescope was originally scheduled to launch into space in 2007 but has been pushed back time and again due to various cost and technical issues.

The team is planning to review its schedule in July and could have a new target launch date to share shortly after.

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https://www.techspot.com/news/85610-james-webb-space-telescope-miss-planned-march-2021.html

 

[kmo911]

Just send up small modules that can look into the space future. the costs to send up small modules would make it faster to see out into SPACe. and modules can connect to a big module when all modules are up in space. would it not save huge $£ to send up small telescope modules instead ?

 

[p51d007]

I know not the ENTIRE program, but funny in a weird sort of way they are worried about the corona virus, but the satellite is pretty much in a clean room.

 

[wiyosaya]

I know not the ENTIRE program, but funny in a weird sort of way they are worried about the corona virus, but the satellite is pretty much in a clean room.

True. However, people still have to get in and out of that clean room and in the process, I would expect that they have to take precautions so as to avoid any chance of contamination.

I am pretty sure that there are stories of contamination being launched into space, too. We would not want to spread COVID-19 to other places in the solar system before we get there.

Just send up small modules that can look into the space future. the costs to send up small modules would make it faster to see out into SPACe. and modules can connect to a big module when all modules are up in space. would it not save huge $£ to send up small telescope modules instead ?

The thing is, with telescopes, the bigger the better depending on what they are designed to do. Visible/infrared telescopes greatly benefit from being bigger as their light gathering power increases with the square of the radius of the mirror. Double that radius, and you get four times the light gathering power.

Also larger the size, the smaller the objects an optical/infrared telescope can resolve. For instance, a small telescope is able to resolve fewer stars in a star cluster like the Pleiades, for instance, while a larger one resolves (sees) more stars.

JWST is designed as an infrared scope so it benefits from its large size. There are already other small space telescopes in space; however, they are designed to do different tasks where small is not a drawback.

 

[texasrattler]

The Webb scope should have launched 13 yrs ago and money was the main issue? I highly doubt thats the real issue.

SpaceX, who is fairly new to the game and with NASAs help built a new reusagble rocket. Take some of the millions saved there n use it for Webb.

They just dont want people to know whats really out in space. Habbitable worlds. The Webb scope will able to show things never before seen n that scares them. Something that could and would likely change the world as is seen today, keeps conviently getting delayed.

 

[Uncle Al]

While the assembly rooms are "clean rooms" that would be worry free, the rest of the complex is filled with staff that must be careful about their exposures so this one might be legitimate and frankly, as important as this is and expensive as it is, I would prefer they take their time and get it right the first time!.

 

[yRaz]

The Webb scope should have launched 13 yrs ago and money was the main issue? I highly doubt thats the real issue.

SpaceX, who is fairly new to the game and with NASAs help built a new reusagble rocket. Take some of the millions saved there n use it for Webb.

They just dont want people to know whats really out in space. Habbitable worlds. The Webb scope will able to show things never before seen n that scares them. Something that could and would likely change the world as is seen today, keeps conviently getting delayed.

the problem with the JWST is that once launched it will not be accessible for repairs, it's not going to be launched into earth orbit like the Hubble. It has to work the first time and it cannot break. To further the issue, many of the technologies that it uses did not exist when it was first proposed. We are testing new technology and making sure that it will not break the minute we deploy it. Yes, it's billions over budget, but people would be a lot more pissed if we launched a billion dollar device into space the broke the minute we tried to deploy it. Essentially becoming a billion dollar piece of space junk. Remember the hubble debacle?

 

[wiyosaya]

the problem with the JWST is that once launched it will not be accessible for repairs, it's not going to be launched into earth orbit like the Hubble. It has to work the first time and it cannot break. To further the issue, many of the technologies that it uses did not exist when it was first proposed. We are testing new technology and making sure that it will not break the minute we deploy it. Yes, it's billions over budget, but people would be a lot more pissed if we launched a billion dollar device into space the broke the minute we tried to deploy it. Essentially becoming a billion dollar piece of space junk. Remember the hubble debacle?

Poor NASA! They are damned if they do and damned if they don't.

 

[DaveBG]

So many excuses... this is starting to sound like money grab...

 

[Raytrace3D]

I know not the ENTIRE program, but funny in a weird sort of way they are worried about the corona virus, but the satellite is pretty much in a clean room.

The people working in that clean room do not eat and sleep there... lol