{"id":12409,"date":"2020-06-16T23:23:22","date_gmt":"2020-06-16T15:23:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/nasa-says-jwst-wont-be-ready-for-launch-in-march-2021\/"},"modified":"2020-06-16T23:23:22","modified_gmt":"2020-06-16T15:23:22","slug":"nasa-says-jwst-wont-be-ready-for-launch-in-march-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/nasa-says-jwst-wont-be-ready-for-launch-in-march-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"NASA says JWST won\u2019t be ready for launch in March 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Technicians inspect a critical part of the James Webb Space Telescope known as the Deployable Tower Assembly after fully extending it in the same maneuver it will perform in once in space. Credit: Northrop Grumman<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The launch of the James Webb Space Telescope will not happen in March 2021 \u2014 the mission\u2019s previously-scheduled launch date \u2014 after the coronavirus pandemic forced a more than 50 percent reduction in staff levels at the observatory\u2019s assembly and test facility.<\/p>\n

The James Webb Space Telescope is the largest space science observatory ever built. The spacecraft and telescope are fully assembled inside a Northrop Grumman facility in Redondo Beach, California, but several test milestones remain before JWST is ready for shipment to its launch base in Kourou, French Guiana.<\/p>\n

Testing of the James Webb Space Telescope has continued at a slower pace since the COVID-19 pandemic started impacting work schedules in March.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot everybody was available. There were positive cases here and there \u2026We will not launch in March, absolutely will not launch in March,\u201d said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA\u2019s science mission directorate. \u201cThat is not in the cards right now. It\u2019s not because they did anything wrong. It\u2019s just not going to be in the cards. It\u2019s not a fault, or some mismanagement of some type.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zurbuchen added he is \u201cvery optimistic\u201d that the observatory can still launch in 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere still is a lot of mountain to climb,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

NASA engineers and oversight managers based at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, where the JWST project is managed, left the Northrop Grumman facility in California in March. That effectively stopped work on JWST\u2019s optical telescope and instrument systems, which is NASA\u2019s responsibility.<\/p>\n

Northrop Grumman, the prime contractor for the JWST spacecraft and sunshield, was able to continue some work on the mission. But the progress was slower than planned.<\/p>\n

\u201cNorthrop Grumman went from two shifts, six days a week, to one shift, five days a week, so operating at about 40 percent efficiency. So a big impact to James Webb Space Telescope,\u201d said Steve Jurczyk, NASA\u2019s associate administrator, in a June 9 presentation during a joint meeting of the National Academies\u2019 Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board and the Space Studies Board.<\/p>\n

In May, Northrop Grumman was able to test the extension of the observatory\u2019s Deployable Tower Assembly, which will create a gap between JWST\u2019s telescope and instrument compartment and the spacecraft bus. The extension of the tower assembly will allow the telescope and instruments, which are folded up during launch to fit inside the fairing of JWST\u2019s Ariane 5 rocket, to be unfolded once in space and cooled to super-cold temperatures.<\/p>\n

\u201cFollowing augmented personal safety procedures due to COVID-19, the James Webb Space Telescope\u2019s team in California continued integration and testing work with significantly reduced on-site personnel and shifts,\u201d NASA said in a statement June 9. \u201cThe NASA\/Northrop Grumman team recently resumed near-full operations.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Artist\u2019s concept of the James Webb Space Telescope fully deployed after launch. Credit: ESA, NASA, S. Beckwith (STScI) and the HUDF Team, Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems \/ STScI \/ ATG medialab<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With NASA workers now back on-site at Northrop Grumman\u2019s test facility in Southern California, Zurbuchen said that teams need to \u201clearn the new efficiency\u201d as technicians get used to working with physical distancing and other restrictions to reduce the risk of coronavirus transmission.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not through (with the coronavirus) at this point,\u201d Zurbuchen said. \u201cWe will still have impacts.\u201d<\/p>\n

JWST had been scheduled for launch on an Ariane 5 rocket from French Guiana on March 30, 2021. The Ariane 5 launch is part of the European Space Agency\u2019s contribution to the program.<\/p>\n

Zurbuchen said NASA will convene a schedule review in July to assess the impacts to the JWST test schedule before setting a new launch date.<\/p>\n

The mission is running years behind schedule, and it\u2019s projected to cost billions of dollars more than NASA originally envisioned. JWST\u2019s total cost to NASA was most recently projected to be $9.66 billion, and that figure does not include contributions from ESA and the Canadian Space Agency.<\/p>\n

Teams working in Northrop Grumman\u2019s spacecraft factory in Southern California connected the spacecraft and science modules of JWST last August, forming the complete observatory for the first time. With JWST fully assembled, engineers at Northrop Grumman \u2014 NASA\u2019s prime contractor for the observatory \u2014 planned to put the craft through a series of deployment, electrical, vibration, and acoustic tests to ensure it will work as designed after launch.<\/p>\n

The Webb telescope is the largest space-based observatory ever developed, with a primary mirror stretching 21.3 feet (6.5 meters) wide, comprised of 18 hexagonal segments made of beryllium and coated in gold. The mirror and JWST\u2019s thermal sunshield will fold up origami-style to fit inside the nose shroud of its Ariane 5 launcher.<\/p>\n

Scientists say the James Webb Space Telescope\u2019s four infrared science instruments \u2014 which come from U.S., European and Canadian institutions \u2014 will see the very first stars and galaxies in the universe, observing light emitted some 13.5 billion years ago. With imaging power 100 times that of the Hubble Space Telescope, JWST will also peer into star-forming nebulas and collect data on the physical and chemical properties of planets around other stars.<\/p>\n

Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Technicians inspect a critical part of the James Webb Space Telescope known as the Deployable Tower Assembly after fully extending it in the same maneuver it will perform in once in space. Credit: Northrop Grumman The launch of the James Webb Space Telescope will not happen in March 2021 \u2014 the mission\u2019s previously-scheduled launch date […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1540,1661,1690,880,2010,831,1560,190],"class_list":["post-12409","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-ariane-5","tag-astronomy","tag-astrophysics","tag-canadian-space-agency","tag-coronavirus","tag-european-space-agency","tag-james-webb-space-telescope","tag-nasa"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12409"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12409"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12409\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12409"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12409"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12409"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}