A technician is standing near some of the segments of the primary mirror.
NASA gave a brief update on the projected launch date of the James Webb Space Telescope on Monday, but it wasn't a good sign.
The telescope's launch date will be pushed back from December 18 to December 22 because of an "incident" at the launch site. The telescope will be launched on an Ariane 5 rocket.
NASA said that technicians were preparing to attach the observatory to the launch vehicle and integrate it with the upper stage of the Ariane 5 rocket. The observatory was affected by a sudden release of a band that secures the launch vehicle to the ground.
"incident," "sudden," and "vibration" are not the kind of expressions one would want to hear about the handling of a delicate and virtually irreplaceable instrument. NASA, the European Space Agency, and the rocket's operator have a plan for moving forward.
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NASA is leading a board to investigate and conduct additional testing to make sure the incident did not damage the telescope. The testing is expected to be completed at the end of this week. A senior source at the space agency said that the testing is currently running ahead of schedule and that the December 22 launch date should stick.
It has been a long, long road to reach this point, and any setbacks now feel especially painful. The telescope has had technical problems since then.
It has been difficult to build because the mirror needs to unfurl itself once it reaches an altitude of 1.5 million kilometers. There are more than 300 single points of failure aboard the observatory. It was difficult for NASA to test them all on Earth in the same way that deep space is.
Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA's science chief, said Monday that it was important for NASA to make sure the telescope was healthy before its launch. He said he was confident that the team would do everything they could to prepare him for the past. This step is worth the wait.
