The James Webb telescope has had years of delays.
REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, NEW YORK — The James Webb Space Telescope will launch December 18. The date announced by the American Space Agency (NASA) is the latest among dozens of other delays for the telescope originally planned to go into space in early 2007.
Reported in The Verge, Thursday (9/9), the $8.8 billion observatory is the successor to the Hubble telescope NASA famously the size of a tennis court. Its 18 hexagonal gold-plated mirrors will allow the spacecraft to view distant planets and the far reaches of the universe with a level of detail far beyond Hubble’s capabilities.
Astronomers have been waiting for the telescope’s launch for years. However, its development was hampered by years of delays, development challenges, and cost overruns.
NASA and Northrop Grumman, the telescope’s prime contractor, initially set a $1 billion budget for James Webb and a launch date of around 2007. In 2011, the launch date was further delayed to 2018, which was later delayed even further, as development accidents raised costs. .
Early last year, NASA’s inspector general expected a delay due to some technical challenges. And the pandemic added more delays last year, pushing the launch date to October 31.
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