James Webb Space Telescope gets all shook up – launch delayed again
- Reference: 1637650628
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/11/23/james_webb_space_telescope_delayed_again/
- Source link:
The James Webb Space Telescope – an international collaboration between NASA, ESA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) – was set to launch on 18 December from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana.
However, as technicians were preparing to attach the telescope to the launch vehicle adapter, a "sudden, unplanned release of a clamp band" – a device that secures Webb to the launch vehicle adapter – caused a vibration throughout the observatory.
[1]
"A NASA-led anomaly review board was immediately convened to investigate and instituted additional testing to determine with certainty the incident did not damage any components," according to an [2]ESA statement that indicated testing will end later this week, with results to follow.
[3]James Webb Space Telescope completes its voyage to French Guiana
[4]Hibernating instrument on Hubble roused as engineers ponder message problem
[5]Bonkers rocket launch sees craft slip sideways, barely climb and tear up terrain
The James Webb Space Telescope is a next-gen space telescope that is more sensitive and has superior infrared resolution compared to its predecessors. It's also designed to sit at a point much further from the Earth than Hubble – 1,500,000km (930,000 miles) beyond Earth's orbit compared to Hubble's orbit a mere 550km (340 miles) above Earth's surface. The $10 billion telescope is designed to probe light sources in space mostly across infrared wavelengths – such as young stars and planets hidden by dust.
Development of the telescope began in 1996, originally with a launch date of 2007. Obviously that didn't happen. The mission kept growing in scope, experiencing numerous delays and budget increases. A major redesign was conducted from 2005 and another delay came along in 2018 when the sat's sunshield ripped during a practice deployment. Then there was the pandemic, then problems with the Ariane 5 slated to lift the 'scope into orbit.
[6]
The space boffins desperately want this baby in space – especially since Hubble is showing its age with repeated unplanned entries to [7]safe mode .
Who can blame Hubble? It's tired. It's lonely. Let's get the James Webb Space Telescope up and enjoy the view. ®
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[1] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YZzJ5Q54LWOOmkr8gVCl-QAAAA0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[2] https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Webb/Update_on_Webb_telescope_launch
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2021/10/13/jwst_french_guiana/
[4] https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/05/hubble_nicmos/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2021/08/30/astra_lv6000_failure/
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[7] https://www.theregister.com/2021/10/26/hubble_safe_mode_again/
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Re: a "sudden, unplanned release of a clamp band"
A good measure of a man is how he calls his machine's errors. My favourite is Xerox's [1]mispuff .
Technologically, the 914 is so complex (more complex, some Xerox salesmen insist, than an automobile) that it has an annoying tendency to go wrong, and consequently Xerox maintains a field staff of thousands of repairmen who are presumably ready to answer a call on short notice. The most common malfunction is a jamming of the supply of copy paper, which is rather picturesquely called a “mispuff,” because each sheet of paper is raised into position to be inscribed by an interior puff of air, and the malfunction occurs when the puff goes wrong. A bad mispuff can occasionally put a piece of the paper in contact with hot parts, igniting it and causing an alarming cloud of white smoke to issue from the machine; in such a case, the operator is urged to do nothing, or, at most, to use a small fire extinguisher that is attached to it, since the fire burns itself out comparatively harmlessly if left alone, whereas a bucket of water thrown over a 914 may convey potentially lethal voltages to its metal surface.
[1] https://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/bill-gatess-favorite-business-tales-in-the-new-yorker
Re: a "sudden, unplanned release of a clamp band"
NASA *does* get some of the best names for problems though. Who can forget classics such as "rapid unplanned disassembly", "engine-rich exhaust", or my favorite "unscheduled lithobraking"?
Re: a "sudden, unplanned release of a clamp band"
Wasn’t “engine rich burn” actually one of SpaceX’s from a recent Starship test flight that ended with a rapid unplanned disassembly shortly before or after landing?
Re: a "sudden, unplanned release of a clamp band"
Sounds to me like it had an unexpected gravitational interaction - aka they dropped it...
Space telescope that is more sensitive
Well said. More sensitive to space radiations it's poised to observe as well as more sensitive to being handled roughly, as there is no plan in place for service once it flies. It's a good approach to measure twice, especially in view of the optical anomaly the Hubble was sent upwards with.
Clang!
> preparing to attach the telescope to the launch vehicle adapter, a "sudden, unplanned release of a clamp band"
So basically, they dropped it.
However, I suspect that the JWST will be subject to a great deal more vibration¹ during launch, so is this incident playing down the event?
[1] especially if this is still an issue: [1][2]
[3]the August 2020 launch and the previous Ariane launch in February 2020, the separation of the faring induced vibrations into the payload stack well above acceptable limits
[1] https://spacenews.com/ariane-5-issue-could-delay-jwst/
[2] https://spacenews.com/ariane-5-issue-could-delay-jwst/
[3] https://spacenews.com/ariane-5-issue-could-delay-jwst/
Re: Clang!
Certainly the vibration during launch would probably shake your back teeth out!
However NASA are simply following standard procedures developed over the last 50 years. Basically they have a list of planned actions and events that will occur while they are mounting the satellite on the launcher; if anything not on this list occurs, they immediately check everything to make sure that the satellite is still intact and fully operational.
It’s almost certainly not a big deal, but as it’s a lot easier to deal with a slightly loose connection, fractionally misaligned mechanical linkage, or tweaked pipe fitting on the ground than in orbit I don’t blame them one little bit for wanting to be sure…
Particularly when said orbit is around a Lagrange point, rather than LEO...
Geez, isn't it time to give up on monoliths and launch a larger swarm based telescope
No.
> unintended vibrations through the observatory
Isn't being hurtled into space famously vibratey?
a "sudden, unplanned release of a clamp band"
Is that NASAspeak for 'something went 'twang''?