The launch of the James Webb Space Telescope will be postponed due to technical problems

On Geektimes, several times news and articles were published on the preparation of the telescope “James Webb” for spacewalk. His tools are richer than any other space telescope, so astronomers hope to make a lot of discoveries with it.

The first results of the checks of the Webb nodes have given reason to hope that the launch will take place on time and that very soon scientists will be able to conduct observations of deep space. In particular, the telescope was tested by vibration, low temperatures and other extreme conditions. But, unfortunately, now it turned out that there are problems with the sunscreen.

By the way, the cost of the project has already been delayed by $ 8.8 billion, so any delay can lead to even more significant expenses. And NASA’s budget is not at all bottomless. According to the plan, the telescope should fly into space in June 2019. The telescope is planned to be launched into space with the Ariane 5 launch vehicle.

On Wednesday, an official message appeared on the network with the following content : “Taking into account several technical problems, as well as the need for further testing of the telescope and the spacecraft, and considering the delay in Northrop Grumman, the launch at the scheduled time does not seem too realistic.

Northrop Grumman had several problems while working with a telescope, but the main one was technical problems with the telescope's sun shield. This shield is needed so that the telescope can receive high-quality images of any part of space, and the Sun should not interfere with this. If something happens to the shield, the telescope will not be able to function normally. And there will be no one to fix it, as in the case of Hubble. Then the team of astronauts was able to achieve improved image quality, which was much lower than expected due to technical problems.

As for the protective screen, the problem is observed with one of the six membranes responsible for the tension of the shield. In addition, there are other problems. Last year, a partner at NASA discovered that 8 of the 16 valves of the spacecraft accelerators did not correspond to normal operation. So far, we have not been able to find out the cause of the problem, but there is an assumption that an error was made during assembly. Now you need to examine each valve, update, and reassemble. Naturally, the implementation of these operations takes time, and considerable. Well, remembering about other problems, it becomes clear that the telescope will not be able to be launched in time.



In order to be in time, in Northrop Grumman they switched to three shifts instead of two. Now the work is conducted 24 hours a day. But it is impossible to accelerate the work even more, because so many people are employed in the project - the rest will only interfere.

It’s difficult to blame someone for delays. The system is extremely complex, it is collected in stages, testing the stability and performance at each stage. From mid-July, the telescope began to be tested for the ability to work at ultra-low temperatures, ranging from 20 to 40 degrees Kelvin. A few weeks tested and the work of the 18 main mirror sections of the telescope - the scientists wanted to make sure that they can function as a whole. The diameter of the composite mirror is 6.5 meters.

In addition to the mirror, the components of the telescope are scientific instruments:

• Near infrared camera (Near-Infrared Camera);
• The device for work in the middle range of infrared radiation (Mid-Infrared Instrument);
• Spectrograph of the near infrared range (Near-Infrared Spectrograph);
• The sensor of exact targeting with the device of formation of the image in the near infrared range and the gapless spectrograph (Fine Guidance Sensor / Near InfraRed Imager and Slitless Spectrograph).

Optical system and orientation works without problems. The telescope was able to detect the light of a distant star emulated by scientists while operating in the normal mode. He was also able to determine the location of the luminaries, tracing the characteristics of the star and the luminosity dynamics.

The main task that the telescope will perform is to detect the light of the first stars and galaxies that were formed immediately after the Big Bang. Also, the telescope should help scientists study the processes of formation and development of galaxies, stars, planetary systems and, in fact, help to understand how life originated.