If you, like us, counted the days until, as the space Agency NASA will launch into space with a modern space telescope in the world, we have bad news for you – you will have to consider further. Before the withdrawal of the Space telescope “James Webb” remained about a year, but, apparently, we will have another postponement of the launch.
The reason for the delay the American space Agency explains the integration of the parts of the telescope inside the spacecraft, which took “more time than was planned”. The result is the launch itself was postponed to the spring of 2019. It will be held somewhere between March and June. NASA claim that the transfer “is not connected with any technical problems with the telescope”.
The fact that the telescope “James Webb” is in itself very large and much more complex in terms of technology compared to other devices of this class. And install it inside the spacecraft, which will deliver it into orbit is much harder (for example, you need to install sun 100 membranes, each of which you must verify) that in the end takes more time. In NASA noted that the select the new window for launch with its partner – the European space Agency, whose launch vehicle “Ariane-5” will bring the device into orbit. If more shifts are not, then the launch will be from the same launch pad in French Guiana, that was previously scheduled, but in 2019.
The space telescope “James Webb” is the most modern and most powerful space telescope in the world. This operating in the infrared space Observatory has a composite mirror with a diameter of 6.5 meters and will study exoplanets (e.g., planetary system Trappist-1), and various objects within the Solar system.
To date, the total project cost of the telescope is 8.7 billion dollars. His build worked in the Space center Goddard in Greenbelt (Maryland, USA) and the Johnson Space center in Houston, Texas. As mentioned earlier, engineers and scientists want to make sure that the telescope is properly assembled and able to stand all the congestion, which he will have to experience mostly during startup. In the end, the project invested one billion dollars and almost two decades of work of hundreds of different professionals.
The launch of the space telescope “James Webb” was postponed in the spring of 2019
Nikolai Khizhnyak