The launch of James Webb Space Telescope has been postponed again, but only for several days this time. The reason, according to NASA, is a ‘incident’ that occurred while the technician attached a telescope to the launch vehicle’s adapter. The space agency said additional testing was needed before the telescope was ready to be launched.
Accident
In a short blog post about this problem, NASA revealed that the incident occurred at the French Guiana satellite preparation facility. While trying to attach a telescope to the launch vehicle adapter, a clamp band was released unexpectedly, sending vibrations via the telescope. The launch vehicle adapter, NASA explained, used to attach the James Webb telescope to the upper stage of Ariane 5 Rocket, opening the way to launch.
Given the complicated nature, the observatory complex, NASA said that the Anomaly Review Board now works to help investigate this problem. The space agency has ordered extra testing from the space telescope to determine whether the vibration causes component damage, which has the potential to regulate further launch. NASA promised to return with more updates about this problem in the future.
History of delay
Before this incident happened, NASA had planned to launch James Webb Space Telescope on December 18 using Rocket Ariane 5 from Arianespace. The date has been hit until December 22 for the earliest so that the testing can occur, ensure that nothing is damaged by a clamp failure. This is a disappointing development because the telescope launch timeline has been postponed several times.
The JWST project has come a long way for years, after facing the cancellation in 2011 to be one of the most promising developments in space exploration. In 2018, the launch of the telescope was pushed to May 2020 the earliest because of the additional testing needed, as specified in the timeline from the project milestone in Wikipedia.
Only a few months later, the launch was then transferred to March 2021. Pandemic Covid-19 produced another delay, however, placed the launch in October 2021. The next bump launch date until November 2021 was caused by worries about whether Ariane 5 rocket would be ready, and Immediately after the launch was pushed to December 18, 2021.
This new construction has, at this time, only has the potential to delay the launch of Telescope Space for several days. Whether the observatory will still be successfully launched before the beginning of the new year it is likely to depend on the results of additional testing, however, and this might be the beginning of another long delay for space telescope.
