Another day, another delay for one of the most complicated space telescope projects ever undertaken.
NASA announced on Wednesday that the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), a complicated mission designed to transform American astrophysics and astronomy as we understand it, is now expected to launch on March 30, 2021, about one year later than expected under a timetable announced in March.
Oh, and because of the delays, the telescope, which is designed to reveal more about the early universe, galaxy formation, and even alien planets than ever before, just got more expensive. Instead of costing $8.8 billion, the JWST is now expected to cost $9.66 billion.
"We're certainly annoyed that we have to wait," John Mather, JWST's senior project scientist, said during a press call, adding that it's most important that the problems with the telescope are being fixed and it's moving forward.
Our science leaders agree that @NASAWebb telescope is a complex & unprecedented undertaking. Together with an independent review board, they unanimously agree that Webb can still achieve mission success, now targeting March 2021 as a new launch date: https://t.co/h82uHwIuGA pic.twitter.com/wTDsqJ9Hbd
— NASA (@NASA) June 27, 2018
The trouble behind the delay and cost overruns come from a range of sources: human error, embedded problems that weren't fixed earlier in the process, and a too-optimistic attitude when it came to the progress of the telescope, according to an independent review of the JWST program.
All that said, it's already been a long wait for JWST to get off the ground.
The mission was re-planned in 2011 after it became clear that the telescope wouldn't be ready for launch in just a few years. The launch year was then set for 2018.
All seemed to be going according to plan, but when the telescope reached its testing phase, things changed, resulting in these delays and cost overruns.
Congress now has to approve the new cost cap for the mission, and NASA, at least, appears to be fully committed to the program.
“Webb is vital to the next generation of research beyond NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. It’s going to do amazing things — things we’ve never been able to do before — as we peer into other galaxies and see light from the very dawn of time,” NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a statement.
“Despite major challenges, the board and NASA unanimously agree that Webb will achieve mission success with the implementation of the board’s recommendations, many of which already are underway.”
Once in space, the telescope is expected to investigate the atmospheres of alien planets to figure out what they're made of. It should also be able to interpret exactly what some of the first galaxies could have looked like.
In order to do this work, the telescope will have to be about 1 million miles from Earth and use a tennis court-sized sunshield to keep it cold while in space.
First, it needs to get there.