NASA Postpones Hubble Successor Telescope Launch

Suara.com – NASA postpone the launch of the so-called successor telescope Hubble, James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) which has been long awaited.

The delay was announced by NASA and its partner the European Space Agency (ESA) who said JWST would not start observations this year.

Both agencies announced that JWST will be targeted for launch on December 18, more than six weeks after the previously set launch date.

This highly anticipated project has been repeatedly delayed due to various issues, from a lack of funds to the Covid-19 pandemic.

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Even so, the delay is not surprising for Thomas Zurbuchen, who serves as NASA’s associate administrator for science.

In June, he acknowledged that it seemed the timeline for a launch scheduled for October 31 would be difficult.

The JWST has not yet been shipped from its current location in California to the ESA launch site in Kourou, French Guiana.

Estimates suggest that the telescope will take about 10 weeks to complete from delivery to launch.

Meanwhile, the new Ariane 5 rocket that will launch JWST into space will be sent from Europe to South America for flight in mid-August.

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The Ariane 5 made its first flight in almost a year on July 30th.

The rocket will have to make another flight preparation by the end of this month before being used to launch JWST.

“To date, together we have overcome technical barriers as well as challenges during the pandemic,” said Gregory L. Robinson, director of the JWST program at NASA. Space.com, Thursday (9/9/2021).

After JWST launches, the telescope will spend about a month traveling 1.5 million km to its destination, the second Lagrange point (L2).

From there, JWST will be in a relatively stable orbit on the opposite side of Earth from the Sun.

Location is critical for telescopes, which must remain well shielded from heat that would interfere with infrared capabilities.

Instruments on JWST will not be activated until two to three months after launch.

According to the ESA, observations will also not begin until about six months after launch.

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