James Webb Space Telescope Delays

Note: This is ported content from my previous blog. It may appear in a format different than intended. It is also from a version of myself that was younger and dumber. I like to keep this content around for posterity.

Have you ever thought about a telescope with folding golden mirrors? One that can go into space too? This is the concept of the James Webb Space Telescope.

It may not sound futuristic, and the idea is not a staple of sci-fi movies with sleek spaceships and complex AI, but it is still harder than it sounds. Spacecraft have to be modeled for the rocket, and every part must work perfectly.

I have a special affinity for the telescope. I once saw the James Webb Space Telescope being worked on in Redondo Beach, California, and I was impressed. Everyone had to wear suits to prevent contamination, and everyone worked quietly. There were no heavy tools or anything, the space telescope was just that fragile. It gave me a new respect for spacecraft, and how hard people have to work on them, and made me more sensitive to the endless delays spacecraft have. The mirrors on that telescope were so sleek.

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Photo of the JWST Mirrors, by NASA.

This is a photo similar to what I saw. The hexagons are part of the foldable design, and you can see the three men wearing suits to prevent contamination. However, even with the difficulty of the telescope, enough is enough. This project has been in the works for too long. It was going to take off earlier this year, 2018- I remember because that was what they were saying when I was there last year, so it should already be in space, right? Well, not so fast. The new launch date is now in 2021. It’s infuriating. But, however how infuriating, there’s no solution. We can’t really cancel the project, it’s too far along. We also can’t rush it, space is dangerous and if a mission is rushed there’s a high chance the James Webb will turn into a billion-dollar firework display. So we just have to deal with the overruns.

This fireworks display is what I want to talk about, though. NASA has put a lot on the line here in monetary terms, and have had to divert revenue to JWST multiple times. An article from Scientific American claims that the telescope is “too big to fail.” I absolutely agree with that. If this fails, NASA will probably lose a lot of funding, which they struggle with already. Space travel is expensive, and the US doesn’t invest nearly enough into it for NASA to do everything it wants, it’s on a tight budget. JWST has been in development for too long, and so much have been spent on it, that I can’t even fathom the future of space exploration in the United States, should it fail.

To find out more about the James Webb Space Telescope, go here.

Sources

Title Photo: ESA Scientific American

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