Breaking News | NASA delays JWST to 2020

March 27, 2018 View this email in your browser NASA delays JWST launch to 2020 WASHINGTON — NASA announced March 27 that the launch of its next flagship astronomy spacecraft, the James Webb Space Telescope, will be delayed an additional year and that the mission is likely to overrun its $8 billion cost cap. The agency said that the mission, whose launch had already slipped from October 2018 to May-June 2019 because of technical problems, will now launch "approximately" in May 2020. A formal launch date will come this summer after the completion of additional reviews, including one by a new independent review board. "With all the flight hardware 100 percent complete, we're approaching the finish line for launch readiness. However, it looks like we have a ways to go before we cross that finish line," said Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA associate administrator for science, in a teleconference with reporters that itself experienced an interruption due to a glitch. Sponsored by   Honeywell Our next-generation satellite technology delivers smaller, more flexible and cost efficient solutions for single craft or constellations. Copyright © 2018 SpaceNews Inc., All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: SpaceNews Inc. 1414 Prince St, Suite 204 Alexandria, VA 22314

James Webb Space Telescope update: new launch window under review

James Webb Space Telescope update: new launch window under review

27-03-2018 07:00 PM CEST

The James Webb Space Telescope is undergoing final integration and testing that will require more time to ensure a successful mission. Following a new assessment of the remaining tasks on the highly complex space observatory, the launch window is now targeted for about May 2020.

 

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NASA Digest, Vol 58, Issue 19

	March 27, 2018  RELEASE 18-019 NASA's Webb Observatory Requires More Time for Testing and Evaluation; New Launch Window Under Review   Illustration of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope Credits: NASA NASA's James Webb Space Telescope currently is undergoing final integration and test phases that will require more time to ensure a successful mission. After an independent assessment of remaining tasks for the highly complex space observatory, Webb's previously revised 2019 launch window now is targeted for approximately May 2020. "Webb is the highest priority project for the agency's Science Mission Directorate, and the largest international space science project in U.S. history. All the observatory's flight hardware is now complete, however, the issues brought to light with the spacecraft element are prompting us to take the necessary steps to refocus our efforts on the completion of this ambitious and complex observatory," said acting NASA Administrator Robert Lightfoot. Testing the hardware on the observatory's telescope element and spacecraft element demonstrate that these systems individually meet their requirements. However, recent findings from the project's Standing Review Board (SRB) indicate more time is needed to test and integrate these components together and then perform environmental testing at Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems in Redondo Beach, California, the project's observatory contractor. NASA is establishing an external Independent Review Board (IRB), chaired by Thomas Young, a highly respected NASA and industry veteran who is often called on to chair advisory committees and analyze organizational and technical issues. The IRB findings, which will complement the SRB data, are expected to bolster confidence in NASA's approach to completing the final integration and test phase of the mission, the launch campaign, commissioning, as well as the entire deployment sequence. Both boards' findings and recommendations, as well as the project's input, will be considered by NASA as it defines a more specific launch time frame. NASA will then provide its assessment in a report to Congress this summer. NASA will work with its partner, ESA (European Space Agency), on a new launch readiness date for the Ariane 5 vehicle that will launch Webb into space. Once a new launch readiness date is determined, NASA will provide a cost estimate that may exceed the projected $8 billion development cost to complete the final phase of testing and prepare for launch. Additional steps to address project challenges include increasing NASA engineering oversight, personnel changes, and new management reporting structures. This is a pivotal year for Webb when the 6.5-meter telescope and science payload element will be joined with the spacecraft element to form the complete observatory. The spacecraft element consists of the tennis-court-sized sunshield, designed by Northrop Grumman, and the spacecraft bus, which houses the flight avionics, power system, and solar panels. Because of Webb's large size, engineers had to design components that fold origami-style into the Ariane 5 rocket's fairing configuration. Webb has already completed an extensive range of tests to ensure it will safely reach its orbit at nearly one million miles from Earth and perform its science mission. As with all NASA projects, rigorous testing takes time, increasing the likelihood of mission success. "Considering the investment NASA and our international partners have made, we want to proceed systematically through these last tests, with the additional time necessary, to be ready for a May 2020 launch," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. After the successful test performance of Webb's telescope and science payload in 2017 at NASA's Johnson Space Flight Center in Houston, the telescope element was delivered to Northrop Grumman earlier this year. Both halves of the 13,500-pound observatory now are together in the same facility for the first time. The spacecraft element will next undergo environmental testing, subjecting it to the vibrational, acoustic and thermal environments it will experience during its launch and operations. These tests will take a few months to complete. Engineers then will integrate and test the fully assembled observatory and verify all components work together properly. Webb is an international project led by NASA with its partners, ESA and the Canadian Space Agency. ESA is providing the Ariane 5 as part of its scientific collaboration with NASA.                                   The James Webb Space Telescope will be the world's premier infrared space observatory and the biggest astronomical space science telescope ever built, complementing the scientific discoveries of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and other science missions. Webb will solve mysteries of our solar system, look beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probe the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. For more information about NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/webb
	Press Contacts Jen Rae Wang / Steve Cole Headquarters, Washington 202-358-1600 / 202-358-0918 jenrae.wang@nasa.gov / stephen.e.cole@nasa.gov

NASA Digest, Vol 58, Issue 18

	March 26, 2018  MEDIA ADVISORY M18-054 NASA Hosts Media Teleconference on Status of James Webb Space Telescope   Illustration of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope Credits: NASA NASA will host a media teleconference at 11:30 a.m. EDT Tuesday, March 27, to provide an update on the agency's James Webb Space Telescope – what will be the world's premier infrared space observatory and the biggest astronomical science telescope ever built. Audio of the call will stream live on NASA's website. The briefing participants are: Acting NASA Administrator Robert Lightfoot Associate Administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD) Thomas Zurbuchen Deputy Associate Administrator of SMD Dennis Andrucyk To participate in the call, media must send their name, affiliation and phone number to Felicia Chou at felicia.chou@nasa.gov no later than 11 a.m. March 27. The most technically demanding and powerful space observatory ever developed, Webb will solve mysteries of our solar system, look beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probe the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb will complement the scientific discoveries of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and other science missions. Webb is an international project led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and the Canadian Space Agency. For more information about NASA's Webb Telescope, visit: https://www.nasa.gov/webb
	Press Contacts Steve Cole / Natasha Pinol Headquarters, Washington 202-358-0918 / 202-358-0930 stephen.e.cole@nasa.gov / natasha.r.pinol@nasa.gov

James Webb Makes The Journey From Houston To Los Angeles; Last Stop Before It Heads To The Launch Facility In 2019

New post on Universe Today James Webb Makes The Journey From Houston To Los Angeles; Last Stop Before It Heads To The Launch Facility In 2019 by Evan Gough The two halves of the James Webb Space Telescope are now in the same location and ready to take the next step on JWST's journey. On February 2nd, Webb's Optical Telescope and Integrated Science instrument module (OTIS) arrived at Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems in Redondo Beach, California. The integrated spacecraft, consisting of the spacecraft bus and sunshield, were already there, waiting for OTIS so they could join together and become a complete spacecraft. "The team will begin the final stages of integration of the world's largest space telescope." - Scott Willoughby, Northrop Grumman's Program Manage for the JWST. "It's exciting to have both halves of the Webb observatory – OTIS and the integrated spacecraft element – here at our campus," said Scott Willoughby, vice president and program manager for Webb at Northrop Grumman. "The team will begin the final stages of integration of the world's largest space telescope." The Space Telescope for Air, Road, and Sea (STTARS) is a custom-designed container that holds the James Webb's Optical Telescope and Integrated Science (OTIS) instrument module. In this image its being unloaded from a U.S. military C-5 Charlie aircraft at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on Feb. 2, 2018. Image: NASA/Chris Gunn OTIS arrived from the Johnson Space Center in Houston, where it had successfully completed its cryogenic testing. To prepare for that journey, OTIS was placed inside a custom shipping container designed to protect the delicate and expensive Webb Telescope from any damage. That specially designed container is called the Space Telescope Transporter for Air, Road and Sea (STTARS). STTARS is a massive container, measuring 4.6 meters (15 feet) wide, 5.2 meters (17 feet) tall, and 33.5 meters feet (110) long, and weighing approximately 75,000 kilograms (almost 165,000 pounds). It's much larger than the James Webb itself, but even then, the primary mirror wings and the secondary mirror tripod must be folded into flight configuration in order to fit. The Space Telescope Transporter for Air, Road and Sea (STTARS) NASA's at Johnson Space Center in Houston. Image: NASA/Chris Gunn The next step for the JWST is to join the spacecraft itself with OTIS. Once that happens, JWST will be complete and fully integrated. Then there'll be more tests called observatory-level testing. After that, another journey inside STTARS to Kouru, French Guiana, where the JWST will be launched in 2019. "This is a major milestone." - Eric Smith, director of the James Webb Space Telescope Program at NASA. "This is a major milestone," said Eric Smith, director of the James Webb Space Telescope Program at NASA. "The Webb observatory, which is the work of thousands of scientists and engineers across the globe, will be carefully tested to ensure it is ready to launch and enable scientists to seek the first luminous objects in the universe and search for signs of habitable planets." You can't fault people, either NASA personnel or the rest of us, for getting excited about each development in the James Webb Space Telescope story. Every time the thing twitches or moves, our excitement re-spawns. It seems like everything that happens with the JWST is now a milestone in its long, uncertain journey. It's easy to see why. The Space Telescope That Almost Wasn't The James Webb ran into a lot of problems during its development. As can be expected for a ground-breaking, technology-pushing project like the Webb, it's expensive. In 2011, when the project was well underway, it was revealed that the Webb would cost $8.8 billion, much more than the initial budget of $1.6 billion. The House of Representatives cancelled the project, then restored it, though funding was capped at $8 billion. That was the main hurdle facing the development of the JWST, but there were others, including timeline delays. The most recent timeline change moved the launch date from 2017 to Spring 2019. As of now, the James Webb is on schedule, and on target to meet its revised budget. The First "Super Telescope" The JWST is the first of the "Super Telescopes" to be in operation. Once it's in place at LaGrange Point 2 (L2), about 1.5 million km (930,000 miles) from Earth, it will begin observing, primarily in infrared. It will surpass both the Hubble Telescope and the Spitzer Telescope, and will "look back in time" to some of oldest stars and galaxies in the universe. It will also examine exoplanets and contribute to the search for life. Evan Gough | February 6, 2018 at 6:45 pm | Tags: Featured, STTARS | URL: https://wp.me/p1CHIY-A1S Comment    See all comments Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser:  https://www.universetoday.com/138500/james-webb-makes-journey-houston-los-angeles-last-stop-heads-launch-facility-2019/

James Webb Wraps up 3 Months in the Freezer. It’s Ready for Space

New post on Universe Today James Webb Wraps up 3 Months in the Freezer. It's Ready for Space by Matt Williams When the James Webb Space Telescope finally takes to space, it will study some of the most distant objects in the Universe, effectively looking back in time to see the earliest light of the cosmos. It will also study extra-solar planets around nearby stars and even bodies within the Solar System. In this respect, the JWST is the natural successor to Hubble and other pioneering space telescopes. It is therefore understandable why the world is so eager for the JWST to be launched into space (which is now scheduled to take place in 2019). And recently, the telescope passed another major milestone along the road towards deployment. After spending three months in a chamber designed to simulate the temperatures and vacuum conditions of space, the JWST emerged and was given a clean bill of health. The tests took place inside Chamber A, a thermal vacuum testing facility located at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. This chamber was built back in 1965 as part of NASA's race to the Moon, where it conducted tests to ensure that the Apollo command and service modules were space-worthy. Beginning in mid-July, the telescope was put into the chamber and subjected to temperatures ranging from 20 to 40 K (-253 to -233 °C; 423 to 387 °F). NASA's James Webb Space Telescope sits in Chamber A at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston awaiting the colossal door to close in July 2017 for cryogenic testing. Credits: NASA/Chris Gunn Once the temperature and vacuum conditions were just right, a team of NASA engineers began testing the alignment of the JWST's 18 primary mirror segments to make sure they would act as a single, 6.5-meter telescope. As Bill Ochs - the James Webb telescope project manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center - indicated to ArsTechnica, this latest test has shown that the telescope is indeed space-worthy. "We now have verified that NASA and its partners have an outstanding telescope and set of science instruments," he said. "We are marching toward launch." The team of engineers also tested the JWST's guidance and optical systems by simulating the light of a distant star. Not only was the telescope able to detect the light, its optical systems were able to process it. The telescope was also able to track the simulated star's movement, which demonstrated that the JWST will be able to acquire and hold research targets once it is in space. Many tests are still needed before the JWST can take to space next year. These will be conducted at Northrop Grumman's company headquarters in Los Angeles, where the telescope will be transported after leaving the Johnson Space Center in late January or early February. Once there, the optical instrument will mated to the spacecraft and sunshield to complete the construction of the telescope. The sunshield test unit on NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is unfurled for the first time. Credit: NASA These tests are necessary since NASA will be hard-pressed to service the telescope once it is in space. This is due to the fact that it will be operating at the Earth-Sun L2 Lagrange Point (which will place farther away from Earth than the Moon) for a minimum of five years. At this distance, any servicing missions will be incredibly difficult, time-consuming and expensive to mount. However, once the JWST has passed its entire battery of tests and NASA is satisfied it is ready to take to space, it will be shipped off to the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana. Once there, it will launch aboard a European Space Agency (ESA) Ariane V booster. Originally, this was scheduled to take place in October of 2017, but is now expected to take place no earlier than Spring of 2018. When the James Webb Space Telescope is operational, it is expected to reveal some truly amazing things about our Universe. In addition to looking farther into space than any previous telescope (and further back in time), its other research goals include studying nearby exoplanets in unprecedented detail, circumstellar debris disks, supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies, and even searching for life in the Solar System by examining Jupiter's moons. For this reason, NASA can be forgiven for pushing the launch back to make sure everything is in working order. But of course, we can be forgiven for wanting to see it launched as soon as possible! There are mysteries out there that are just waiting to be revealed, and some amazing scientific finds that need to be followed up on. In the meantime, be sure to check out this video about the JWST, courtesy of NASA: Further Reading: ArsTechnica, NASA Matt Williams | January 17, 2018 at 3:43 pm | Tags: Featured, MarCO | URL: https://wp.me/p1CHIY-zYc Comment    See all comments Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser:  https://www.universetoday.com/138272/james-webb-wraps-3-months-freezer-ready-space/

Byly vybrány první cíle pro Webbův kosmický teleskop

Byly vybrány první cíle pro Webbův kosmický teleskop

13-11-2017 04:00 PM CET

Plynový obr Jupiter, organické molekuly v mračnech formujících se hvězd a rodící se galaxie ve vzdáleném vesmíru jsou mezi prvními cíli, pro které budou k dispozici data z teleskopu JWST (James Webb Space Telescope). A to hned poté, co tato silná observatoř odstartuje v roce 2019 do vesmíru.

 

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When James Webb Finally Reaches Space, Here’s What it’ll be Hunting

New post on Universe Today When James Webb Finally Reaches Space, Here's What it'll be Hunting by Matt Williams Ever since the project was first conceived, scientists have been eagerly awaiting the day that the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will take to space. As the planned successor to Hubble, the JWST will use its powerful infrared imaging capabilities to study some of the most distant objects in the Universe (such as the formation of the first galaxies) and study extra-solar planets around nearby stars. However, there has been a lot of speculation and talk about which targets will be the JWST's first. Thankfully, following the recommendation of the Time Allocation Committee and a thorough technical review, the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) recently announced that it has selected thirteen science "early release" programs, which the JWST will spend its first five months in service studying. As part of the JWST Director's Discretionary Early Release Science Program (DD-ERS), these thirteen targets were chosen by a rigorous peer-review process. This consisted of 253 investigators from 18 counties and 106 scientific institutions choosing from over 100 proposals. Each program has been allocated 500 hours of observing time, once the 6-month commissioning period has ended. The JWST's Optical Telescope element/Integrated Science instrument module (OTIS) undergoing testing at NASA's Johnson Space Center. Credit: NASA/Desiree Stover As Ken Sembach, the director of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), said in an ESA press statement: "We were impressed by the high quality of the proposals received. These programmes will not only generate great science, but will also be a unique resource for demonstrating the investigative capabilities of this extraordinary observatory to the worldwide scientific community... We want the research community to be as scientifically productive as possible, as early as possible, which is why I am so pleased to be able to dedicate nearly 500 hours of director's discretionary time to these early release science observations." Each program will rely on the JWST's suite of four scientific instruments, which have been contributed by NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). These include the the Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) and the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) developed by the ESA, as well as the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) developed by NASA and the STScI, and the Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS) developed by the CSA. The thirteen programs selected include "Through the looking GLASS", which will rely on the astronomical community's experience using Hubble to conduct slitless spectroscopy and previous surveys to gather data on galaxy formation and the intergalactic medium, from the earliest epochs of the Universe to the present day. The Principal Investigator (PI) for this program is Tommaso Treu of the University of California Los Angeles. Once deployed, the JWST will conduct a variety of science missions aimed at improving our understanding of the Universe. Credit: NASA/STScI Another is the Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science (CEERS) program, which will conduct overlapping observations to create a coordinated extragalactic survey. This survey is intended to let astronomers see the first visible light of the Universe (ca. 240,000 to 300,000 years after the Big Bang), as well as information from the Reionization Epoch (ca. 150 million to 1 billion years ago) and the period when the first galaxies formed. The PI for this program is Steven Finkelstein of the University of Texas at Austin. Then there's the Transiting Exoplanet Community Early Release Science Program, which will build on the work of the Hubble, Spitzer, and Kepler space telescopes by conducting exoplanet surveys. Like its predecessors, this will consist of monitoring stars for periodic dips in brightness that are caused by planets passing between them and the observer (aka. Transit Photometry). However, compared to earlier missions, the JWST will be able to study transiting planets in unprecedented detail, which is anticipated to reveal volumes about their respective atmospheric compositions, structures and dynamics. This program, for which the PI is Imke de Pater from the University of California Berkeley, is therefore expected to revolutionize our understanding of planets, planet formation, and the origins of life. Also focused on the study of exoplanets is the High Contrast Imaging of Exoplanets and Extraplanetary Systems program, which will focus on directly imaged planets and circumstellar debris disks. Once again, the goal is to use the JWST's enhanced capabilities to provide detailed analyses on the atmospheric structure and compositions of exoplanets, as well as the cloud particle properties of debris disks. Artist's impression of the planet orbiting a red dwarf star. Credit: ESO/M. Kornmesser But of course, not all the programs are dedicated to the study of things beyond our Solar System, as is demonstrated by the program that will focus on Jupiter and the Jovian System. Adding to the research performed by the Galileo and Juno missions, the JWST will use its suite of instruments to characterize and produce maps of Jupiter's cloud layers, winds, composition, auroral activity, and temperature structure. This program will also focus on some of Jupiter's largest moons (aka. the "Galilean Moons") and the planet's ring structure. Data obtained by the JWST will be used to produce maps of Io's atmosphere and volcanic surface, Ganymede's tenuous atmosphere, provide constrains on these moons thermal and atmospheric structure, and search for plumes on their surfaces. As Alvaro Giménez, the ESA Director of Science, proclaimed: "It is exciting to see the engagement of the astronomical community in designing and proposing what will be the first scientific programs for the James Webb Space Telescope. Webb will revolutionize our understanding of the Universe and the results that will come out from these early observations will mark the beginning of a thrilling new adventure in astronomy." During its mission, which will last for a minimum of five years (barring extensions), the JWST will also address many other key topics in modern astronomy, probing the Universe beyond the limits of what Hubble has been capable of seeing. It will also build on observations made by Hubble, examining galaxies whose light has been stretched into infrared wavelengths by the expansion of space. The James Webb Space Telescope's 18-segment primary mirror, a gold-coated beryllium mirror has a collecting area of 25 square meters. Credit: NASA/Chris Gunn Beyond looking farther back in time to chart cosmic evolution, Webb will also examine the Supermassive Black Holes (SMBH) that lie at the centers of most massive galaxies - for the purpose of obtaining accurate mass estimates. Last, but not least, Webbwill focus on the birth of new stars and their planets, initially focusing on Jupiter-sized worlds and then shifting focus to study smaller super-Earths. John C. Mather, the Senior Project Scientist for the JWST and a Senior Astrophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, also expressed enthusiasm for the selected programs. "I'm thrilled to see the list of astronomers' most fascinating targets for the Webb telescope, and extremely eager to see the results," he said. "We fully expect to be surprised by what we find." For years, astronomers and researchers have been eagerly awaiting the day when the JWST begins gathering and releasing its first observations. With so many possibilities and so much waiting to be discovered, the telescope's deployment (which is scheduled for 2019) is an event that can't come soon enough! Further Reading: ESA, STScI Matt Williams | November 17, 2017 at 1:22 pm | Tags: Featured, Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) | Categories: News | URL: https://wp.me/p1CHIY-zS4 Comment    See all comments Trouble clicking? Copy and paste this URL into your browser:  https://www.universetoday.com/137892/james-webb-finally-reaches-space-heres-itll-hunting/