ESA delays Webb launch one day due to weather
The European Space Agency (ESA) announced late yesterday that, due to “adverse weather conditions” in French Guiana, it has delayed the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope on an Ariane 5 rocket one day to December 25th.
The announcement also stated that the final launch readiness review also approved the launch, though no update has yet been issued on the ground control communications problem that had caused a two day delay last week.
Meanwhile, this story and its headline encapsulates the terror I think many astronomers presently feel about this telescope:
Why Astronomers Are “Crying and Throwing Up Everywhere” Over the Upcoming Telescope Launch
The sense is one of helpless panic among astronomers who want to use Webb. They know it will do really cutting edge science, but they also know that many things can go wrong, and the history of the telescope (ten years late and 20x overbudget) will likely make replacing it impossible.
And many things can go wrong. Below is NASA’s video showing the telescope’s complex unfolding, step-by-step, after launch.
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.
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The European Space Agency (ESA) announced late yesterday that, due to “adverse weather conditions” in French Guiana, it has delayed the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope on an Ariane 5 rocket one day to December 25th.
The announcement also stated that the final launch readiness review also approved the launch, though no update has yet been issued on the ground control communications problem that had caused a two day delay last week.
Meanwhile, this story and its headline encapsulates the terror I think many astronomers presently feel about this telescope:
Why Astronomers Are “Crying and Throwing Up Everywhere” Over the Upcoming Telescope Launch
The sense is one of helpless panic among astronomers who want to use Webb. They know it will do really cutting edge science, but they also know that many things can go wrong, and the history of the telescope (ten years late and 20x overbudget) will likely make replacing it impossible.
And many things can go wrong. Below is NASA’s video showing the telescope’s complex unfolding, step-by-step, after launch.
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.
Oh, man, it is so jimxed!
sorry, meant “jinxed”
Not so much whether it’s jinxed, it’s a question of how much is it blessed.
At the successful conclusion of a complex undertaking you’ll often hear “It went great – almost flawless”.
Problem with JWST is “almost flawless” may be a complete failure.
If 99% of the shield latches deploy perfectly the telescope may be crippled.
I hope it’s very blessed!
Who was the lead designer on this thing, Rube Goldberg?
“adverse weather conditions”
Cover for “we don’t want to take a chance on hitting Santa” ???
Christmas…hmm….we will see a miracle…or Krampus on the campus.
From the second link, Planetary scientist Peter Gao wrote: “my entire career hinges on this bucket of single point failures I’m so nervous I’m crying and throwing up everywhere.”
Gao has reason to be worried sick (apparently, literally). According to the article, “that ‘bucket of single-point failures’ contains more than 300 individual things that could each fail and bring the whole $10 billion, 13,700 pound, 30-years-in-development mission down with them.” Considering the problems that have plagued Webb for the past decade, how many of us are completely confident of success? The mirror doesn’t have so many moving parts to fail to latch in place, but that sunshade is a nightmare.
Add to this the recent problem that Lucy had with its solar power panels getting hung up, and that was an easy mechanism.
My career does not hinge on Webb’s success or failure, so I am not this emotional nor this sick, but I have scores of dollars of tax money tied up in this thing, so if it fails I will be thinking of the six or so lunches that I could have bought or the few dozen space telescopes we all could have had for the money that we overspent on Webb. Even if Webb works perfectly for longer than its expected lifetime, will we get our money’s worth or would we have been better off with those other telescopes?
Uh oh. Now I am crying, and now I am feeling nauseated.