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If you, like many other people interested in space, count the days before they soon launch outside the Earth the most powerful and innovative space telescope in history of humanity, then we have upsetting news for you. Wait will have a long time. Before the conclusion of the orbital infrared observatory “James Webb” remained about a year, but now NASA decided to postpone the launch of an advanced device in the spring of 2019.
James Webb, designed to replace the Hubble Space Telescope, will have a composite mirror with a diameter of 6.5 meters (versus 2.4 meters Hubble) and a heat shield with an area of tennis court. The observatory will be placed in halo orbit at the libration point of the L2 system Sun-Earth. The project, in which 17 countries participate, will serve to observe the planets and small bodies of the solar system, the discovery of new stars and galaxies, the search for water outside the Earth worlds and all forms of life. The project cost is almost 8.7 billion dollars.
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According to NASA management, the reason for the delay in launch lies in integration of parts of the observatory into the ship. She took where more time than American engineers planned National Space Agency. The result of this is “James Webb “will leave our planet not in the next, but in 2019. At the same time it is noted that no technical malfunctions in the telescope observed, and the transfer of the date of its launch into space is caused by objective reasons.
The fact is that this observatory is much larger and technologically sophisticated compared to its predecessors. Installing “James Webb” inside the device, which will deliver a telescope into orbit will be much harder and take longer time. The observatory, for example, requires the installation of 100 special sun-protection membranes, and each of them needs careful check. If At least One Membrane Fails, “James Webb “will not be able to fully function – and then huge money, as they say, into the wind, that is – into bottomless space.
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At the american national aeronautics and space exploration reports that new window to launch James Webb “is picked up today. This duty lies on the shoulders Of the European Space Agency – its “Arian-5” will become launch vehicle, which will be honored to display infrared Earth Observatory Observatory. Probably launched will be from the launch pad in the French department of Guiana.
NASA Time Telescope
