James Webb Space Telescope Delayed Yet Again
NASA’s upcoming James Webb Space Telescope is the most ambitious space observatory in history. The telescope, about four times the size of Hubble, will be placed into orbit where it will find exoplanets, study the early universe, and possibly find the first hints of extraterrestrial life. That is, if it ever gets off the ground.
Today, NASA announced that it has pushed the launch date of the telescope back again, this time to March 2021 at the earliest. This comes after a delay announced only a few months ago that pushed the launch date to 2020, and makes today’s announcement the third delay in less than a year.
When the telescope was first conceived in the late 1990s, it had a projected cost of around a billion dollars and a launch date in 2007. Since then, multiple scheduling delays, cost overruns, and other issues have pushed back the launch date again and again. Since the project’s inception, James Webb has seen over a dozen announcements of delays. The cost of the program has also skyrocketed, from around $1 billion in 1998 to almost $10 billion today.
After the previous delay back in March, NASA created an independent review board to audit the program. That board has finished their review and determined that the telescope will continue production but is not expected to be ready for launch until March 30, 2021. The board found that despite all the delays and cost overruns, the telescope’s scientific potential is too great to cancel the project.
“Webb should continue based on its extraordinary scientific potential and critical role in maintaining U.S. leadership in astronomy and astrophysics,” said review board chair Tom Young. “Ensuring every element of Webb functions properly before it gets to space is critical to its success.”
Source: NASA
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