[ad_1]
CAPE CANAVERAL – NASA's next-generation space telescope has been further delayed at an incredible cost of $ 1 million a day.
For the third time in less than a year, the space agency announced Wednesday a long report. James Webb Space Telescope. The observatory will now fly at the earliest in 2021; until last fall, it was scheduled for launch in 2018.
The overall cost of the telescope is expected to reach nearly $ 10 billion. The development cost alone will exceed the $ 8 billion ceiling set by Congress by more than $ 800 million and will require re-authorization.
An independent review board discusses worker errors and embedded hardware issues. At a telescope acoustic test performed this year in California by Northrop Grumman's master builder, dozens of loose fasteners – about 70 pieces in all – have come loose. Some pieces are still missing and could well be inside the observatory.
In another case, a bad solvent was used to clean the spacecraft propulsion valves. According to Young, the chairman of the review board, Tom Young, has repeatedly worried about being too optimistic in the work schedule, especially given the complexities and concerns unique features of the Webb telescope. His solar shield, the size of a tennis court deployed in the space, is necessary to keep the infrared telescope cold and constitutes a major risk, he notes.
Despite the many problems, the review panel According to Young, [Web] – Webb – considered a successor to the Hubble Space Telescope – aims to go further in the space and further in time than ever before. It will operate at 1 million miles from the Earth, inaccessible to astronauts like the Hubble in Low Earth Orbit – launched in 1990 with a misshapen mirror –
"Do not get me wrong, I'm not happy to have to share Here we always want to talk about the successes we have, "said NASA Chief Scientist Thomas Zurbuchen
Zurbuchen said that NASA should have provided better control and is part of the problem. With Northrop Grumman In addition to better monitoring, he said that there would be more quality control and that other NASA engineers will take part in all that goes from the front.
"We have to do this here before going into space," said Zurbuchen, "The Webb is worth the wait."
The Commission review issued 32 recommendations and NASA intends to implement them,
In Septembr e last, NASA announced that it would delay the launch of Webb from 2018 to 2019., the launch was postponed from 2019 to 2020. We are now on March 30, 2021.
Young said that if the Board recommendations were "rigorously implemented", so the new date is achievable.
Source link
