The next-generation space telescope is ready to launch when the weather cooperates.
For decades, the James Webb Space Telescope has been in the works. Project officials confirmed during a news conference that the observatory is ready to launch. NASA and its partners on the project decided to delay the launch by one more day.
Jérme Rives, a vice president at the European launch provider Arianespace, said that high-altitude winds at the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana were the reason for the decision. The company will conduct a weather check on Wednesday in hopes of getting a new launch date.
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope launch is live.
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Scientists have been anticipating the view of the universe for a long time. When the weather gets better, the launch will begin a one-month journey covering 1 million miles.
"It really is a level of complexity that's over and above," Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, said during the news conference. The testing gave us the calm that we're sleeping on.
Zurbuchen said that he was confident in the team's decision to go to the launch pad. "Rigorous testing has given us the ability to sit here and know that we've done the work that it takes for us to get to launch."
The observatory got the all-clear for blast-off during a launch readiness review on Tuesday, 14 years after work on it began, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said during a news conference.
Nelson said that the mission was extraordinary. It's a shining example of what we can do when we dream big. When you want a big reward, you have to take a big risk, and we've known that for a long time.
Nelson acknowledged the telescope's rocky path. He said that there have been some setbacks along the way.
The agency is committed to the scientific potential of the JWST. NASA deputy administrator Pam Melroy said during the news conference that they have always been living with blinders. "Webb is going to show us the formation of the universe by taking the blinders off."
The observatory is scheduled to go off on Saturday at 7:21 a.m. The time is 1220 GMT. Live NASA coverage will start at 6 a.m. You can either watch it at NASA TV or at Space.com.
The only issue the team was monitoring was high-altitude winds, which could not offer a detailed weather forecast. If the launch attempt on Saturday is called off, there will be opportunities through the end of the year.
Despite the magnitude of the launch, Greg Robinson, the program director at NASA, echoed Zurbuchen's assertion that the team can sleep. He said that his stress is generally low and that it gets less as we get to the pad. I'm looking forward to that when it increases with the rocket.
After blast-off, the mission team may experience stress. A monthlong process of unfolding the telescope begins when it is launched, as it travels to a point called L2 on the opposite side of Earth as the sun. More than 300 steps are needed for the telescope to begin operations.
One way to look at complexity is through single-point failures that need to work. landing on Mars has a third of the single-point failures than deploy the telescope fully, according to that metric.
In a Mars landing where the landing is fully programmed in advance, most of the deployment is a dynamic process that mission personnel can adjust to as needed.
The whole deployment process is very much human-controlled, according to the deputy project scientist for communications at NASA. All of our deployment are human controlled, with the exception of the first couple of deployment. We make sure things are working correctly by doing them one at a time.
NASA personnel said that the observatory is worth the angst.
"The James Webb Space Telescope is an Apollo moment for all of NASA, for the entire world, but especially for our science programs worldwide," Zurbuchen said. It's the stuff of dreams.
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