NASA wants to resume the testing process of the James Webb telescope. The preflight testing will come to an end due to a malfunction which occurred during a test. Back in December, the space telescope had an unusual outcome when tested. Thus, this triggered specialists from NASA to put on hold the testing process of the James Webb Space Telescope.
- Back on December 3rd, during a vibration test, the James Webb Space Telescope failed.
- Experts from NASA have worked to figure out the glitch.
- This month, scientists will prepare the telescope for further testing.
After the incident, NASA tried to determine the cause of the malfunction and the space telescope should be tested again at the end of January. During the part, twenty years, scientists from NASA have been developing the James Webb Space Telescope. When the large device is ready, it is bound to be categorized as the most powerful telescope which was ever developed.
In November 2016, NASA has declared that the optics of the space telescope were completely developed. The massive mirror will help astronauts look deeper into the immensity of the Universe and reveal what scientists were not able to discover ever before. Before the telescope can be used, it still needs to be tested several times regarding the hardware which is used.
This testing process will last a few more years to make sure the device will be ready to explore space. Besides testing the hardware, specialists will also analyze the performance of telescope by undergoing vibrational and acoustic tests meant to simulate the conditions which the telescope would face during its launching process.
The space telescope will be launched on an Ariane 5 spaceship in approximately two years. Unfortunately, on December 3rd, the accelerometers attached to the telescope registered an unusual response during the vibrational test. Due to this malfunction, the procedure was shut down. Since that unfortunate accident, experts from NASA have kept working on deciphering what exactly caused that glitch.
Until now, the space agency managed to undergo three low-level vibrational tests successfully. The team working on the JWST plans to completely examine the details of the accident which occurred last month to be prepared for further testing. Paul Geithner, the deputy project manager for James Webb Space Telescope at NASA, declared that an incident like this represents the reason why NASA usually performs several tests before launching to see how their devices work truly. They cannot rely on what they think that the device will do, but on facts.
Image courtesy of: wikipedia
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