Taking a good look into the depths of the Universe is such a necessary activity nowadays. Building a new home for us, among other planets in the distant future, will assure the survival of the human species for as much as possible. Scientists all over the world know this very well.
The James Webb Space Telescope is NASA’s upcoming tool for spotting the first galaxies that formed during the early universe and observing stars as they form planetary systems. The telescope will be the successor for the Hubble Space Telescope. But unfortunately, its launch has been delayed once again.
New launch date: October 2021
Although this launch date will most likely change itself once more until October 2021, it’s currently our best bet for knowing when will NASA finally appoint its James Webb Space Telescope for exploring the stars.
Thomas Zurbuchen, who is associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, brings some clarifications:
The perseverance and innovation of the entire Webb Telescope team has enabled us to work through challenging situations we could not have foreseen on our path to launch this unprecedented mission,
The chances are significant that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic had been contributing to the delay. The United States has seen a tremendous increase in the daily number of infections. For several days, there are over 70,000 infections for each day, with New York, California, and Florida as the most affected states.
One funny aspect is that the James Webb Telescope was first supposed to launch thirteen years ago, having a budget of $500 million. But sooner or later, it will replace the good old Hubble Space Telescope, which made some important discoveries for mankind. Hubble gathered images revealing Gamma-ray bursts, distribution of dark matter, some of Pluto’s moons, and more. The telescope received its name after the American astronomer Edwin Hubble, who had tremendous astronomical discoveries. He found out in the ’20s that there are numerous other galaxies besides our own, and that the Universe is constantly expanding.
