NASA officials announced Thursday they are now targeting a launch date of October 31, 2021 for the James Webb Space Telescope. This represents a seven-month delay from the previously announced March 2021 date for the $10 billion telescope that will allow scientists to observe deeper into the universe than ever before.
In a teleconference, NASA scientists explained that the latest delay has been driven primarily by the COVID-19 pandemic. Not only have employees at NASA and the telescope's primary contractor, Northrop Grumman, lost work time—they were working two shifts prior to the onset of the pandemic—the new schedule factors in the potential for additional lost time due to the virus.
Because of the additional margin in the schedule, the NASA officials expressed confidence in the new date. "We're not expecting to go beyond October 31st," said Gregory Robinson, NASA's Webb program director.
Thomas Zurbuchen, who leads science programs for the space agency, said NASA has talked with the European Space Agency about the new date and confirmed that an Ariane 5 rocket will be available for the new launch date. The telescope will launch from the European spaceport in French Guiana.
At present, the telescope has three months of "schedule reserve" with the new launch date, meaning it can lose that much time for technical or pandemic reasons between now and next October and still launch on time. Three months of schedule reserve at this point in a major project is about normal, so barring some major calamity or a substantial worsening in the COVID-19 pandemic, it seems reasonable to have some confidence in the new launch date.
Zurbuchen noted that, in the quarter prior to March and the onset of the pandemic, work on the Webb telescope lost no time.
If NASA can hold to the existing schedule and encounters no major additional problems, officials also believe the project's existing budget will cover the cRead More – Source
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