erek
[H]F Junkie
- Joined
- Dec 19, 2005
- Messages
- 10,875
"Naturally, Bush demurred. He also marshalled an argument that has been used to justify large expenditures on space missions since Sputnik: the need to demonstrate technological prowess. “It is especially important that we take on programs like Webb to demonstrate to the world that we can lead,” said Bush.
During the thoroughgoing reevaluation in 2018, launch was postponed to March of 2021. Then the pandemic hit, delaying work up and down the line. In July of 2020, launch was postponed yet again, to 31 October 2021.
Whether Northrop Grumman will really hit that target is anyone’s guess: The company did not respond to requests from IEEE Spectrum for information about how the pandemic is affecting the project timeline. But if this massive, quarter-century-long undertaking finally makes it into space this year, astronomers will no doubt be elated. Let’s just hope that elation over a space telescope doesn’t again turn into dread.
This article appears in the January 2021 print issue as “Where No One Has Seen Before.”"
https://spectrum.ieee.org/aerospace...irst-light-for-the-james-webb-space-telescope
During the thoroughgoing reevaluation in 2018, launch was postponed to March of 2021. Then the pandemic hit, delaying work up and down the line. In July of 2020, launch was postponed yet again, to 31 October 2021.
Whether Northrop Grumman will really hit that target is anyone’s guess: The company did not respond to requests from IEEE Spectrum for information about how the pandemic is affecting the project timeline. But if this massive, quarter-century-long undertaking finally makes it into space this year, astronomers will no doubt be elated. Let’s just hope that elation over a space telescope doesn’t again turn into dread.
This article appears in the January 2021 print issue as “Where No One Has Seen Before.”"
https://spectrum.ieee.org/aerospace...irst-light-for-the-james-webb-space-telescope