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.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
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.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
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.