An “accident” occurred with the James Webb Space Telescope

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Zoom/A technician standing near some parts of the primary mirror of the James Webb Space Telescope.

A short update on the expected launch date of NASA’s $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope was released on Monday, and it wasn’t exactly a heartwarming message.

The launch date of the Large Space Telescope “Not Before” will be delayed from December 18 to at least December 22 after an “accident” occurred during processing operations at the launch site in Kourou, French Guiana. This is where the telescope will be launched on an Ariane 5 rocket provided by the European Space Agency.

“Technicians were preparing to connect Webb to the launch vehicle adapter, which is used to integrate the observatory with the upper stage of an Ariane 5 rocket,” NASA said in a blog post. “The sudden and unplanned release of the clamp bar – which attaches Webb to the launch vehicle adapter – caused a vibration throughout the observatory.”

Let’s be honest, words like “accident,” “sudden,” and “shake” are not the kinds of expressions one would want to hear about handling an instrument as delicate and nearly irreplaceable as the Webb telescope. However, NASA, the European Space Agency and the Arianespace rocket operator have a plan going forward.

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NASA is leading an anomaly review board to investigate and perform additional tests to ensure with certainty that the accident did not damage any part of the telescope. NASA said it will provide an update when testing is complete this weekend. A senior space agency source said that this test is currently taking place ahead of schedule, and provided that some serious problems have not been identified, the launch date should continue to December 22.

Any setbacks now in Webb’s progress toward launch seem particularly agonizing because getting to this point has been a long, long road. NASA’s follow-up instrument to the highly successful Hubble Space Telescope was originally scheduled to be launched about a decade ago, with a development cost of $1 billion. Since then, technical problems and delays have spoiled the complex telescope.

Webb’s construction was difficult because his 6.5-meter mirror needed to open itself once it reached orbit 1.5 million kilometers from Earth. This is a very complex process, and there are more than 300 individual points of failure on board the observatory. NASA has had a hard time testing them all on Earth in conditions that mimic the temperatures, pressure and microgravity of deep space.

NASA Chief of Science Thomas Zurbuchen said Monday that it is important for NASA to ensure the telescope’s safety before it is launched. “I am confident the team will do everything in its power to prepare Webb to explore our cosmic past,” he wrote on Twitter. “Sure, this step is worth the wait.”

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