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NASA nudges James Webb telescope launch date after 'sudden, unplanned' vibration incident:
The James Webb Space Telescope is a very big, very overdue and very sensitive project. After years of delays, it was supposed to launch on Dec. 18 and become the newest flagship observatory. The launch has now been moved to no earlier than Dec. 22 after an incident during launch preparations.
The telescope is in the process of getting together with the Ariane 5 rocket that will escort it into space. "A sudden, unplanned release of a clamp band — which secures Webb to the launch vehicle adapter — caused a vibration throughout the observatory," NASA said in a statement Monday.
[...] NASA expects to deliver an update on the telescope's condition at the end of the week.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday November 23 2021, @11:22PM (1 child)
The egg has a shape engineered for strong forces along its longest axis.
No doubt equipment riding on top of a controlled explosion will have something similar.
An uncontrolled event in the wrong axis could cause serious damage.
Also, vibrations can ring it like a bell and if it was not in its dampening cage, waves could have caused cracks which present themselves now or worse at the Lagrange point.
Scrub the launch,
Run it here now on Earth through an entire mission completion,
then light the fire,
you only get one chance at this.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by khallow on Wednesday November 24 2021, @03:59AM
Unless you make more. Economies of scale are the way to avoid this level of nail biting.