Engineers: Webb undamaged by “incident”, ready for December 22nd launch
Arianespace engineers have confirmed after testing that the James Webb Space Telescope was undamaged by “incident” that occurred during stacking, and have okayed the resumption of the telescope’s preparation for launch.
On Wednesday, Nov. 24, engineering teams completed these tests, and a NASA-led anomaly review board concluded no observatory components were damaged in the incident. A “consent to fuel” review was held, and NASA gave approval to begin fueling the observatory. Fueling operations will begin Thursday, Nov. 25, and will take about 10 days.
The launch is now set for December 22nd.
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Arianespace engineers have confirmed after testing that the James Webb Space Telescope was undamaged by “incident” that occurred during stacking, and have okayed the resumption of the telescope’s preparation for launch.
On Wednesday, Nov. 24, engineering teams completed these tests, and a NASA-led anomaly review board concluded no observatory components were damaged in the incident. A “consent to fuel” review was held, and NASA gave approval to begin fueling the observatory. Fueling operations will begin Thursday, Nov. 25, and will take about 10 days.
The launch is now set for December 22nd.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
They better pray there is no “unanticipated glitch” they failed to consider that kills this mission in space traceable to this incident.
I hope with all my heart that Webb is a grand success, but NASA’s administrative style has to change. The cost, delays, and hyper anxiety it has allowed and fomented in this program are a scandal and Congress should refuse to keep funding such dismal management.
MHO.
The problem with the vibrations from this “incident” is that JWST is designed to survive the vibrations of the Ariane 5 launch. Those basically go up and down. Vibrations in another direction might loosen some of the fine mechanics necessary to fold it up in space. The electronics and software are all straightforward to check out. But the mechanics of the unfolding that we all worry about are not. They would have to bring it home to its vacuum chamber and unfold it there in order to check that out properly. Everyone’s patience is over already, so I’m sure they won’t do that. And what would happen with the last Ariane 5 in the jungle meanwhile? No, it will be launched for Christmas. Just get it over with. We are supposed to hear more from NASA on Friday.
The recent Decadal Survey, which I have only had a very selective glance at yet, mentioned something about doing things differently with the next big space telescope. What caught my interest was what they call “The Interstellar Probe”, which I would call the trans-Solar probe because it will not reach for another star. It will just go as far as possible as quickly as possible, which is pretty cool! In order to measure interstellar winds, magnetic fields, cosmic radiation, dust density perhaps and such. They have a 50 year plan for that proposed mission, and give special considerations to the implications of that. Which I think is a great step, future spaceflight will be multi-generational projects. Then I have some questions about their ideas of how to get “there” (nowhere really, it’s somewhat like Hubble Deep Field) as quickly as possible. But I’ll look at it again before I say more about it.
“No Agenda”
Ep. 1402 (November 26, 2021)
Adam Curry & John C. Dvorak discuss…. The James Webb Space Telescope
https://youtu.be/niexrJNUfg8?t=3470
“Sounds like a fiasco, waiting to happen…”