There are many more realistic circumstances that could derail the mission than marauders at sea, but for a project that has been through so much-for a telescope that was initially supposed to launch in 2007, the year the first iPhone was released-pirates might as well happen too.Ī NASA spokesperson told me Webb will sail sometime in late July or mid-August, but did not respond to questions about specific measures, such as whether the U.S. The James Webb space telescope has taken far longer to develop than anyone anticipated after more than 20 years of work, it’s finally supposed to launch in late October. But the playful commentary carried a hint of unease. When Conselice tweeted about the meeting, other scientists responded with jokes about swashbucklers and st arrrs. “Why would you announce that you’re going to be shipping on a certain day something that is worth over $10 billion,” he explained to me, “that you could easily put in a boat” and sail away with? Christopher Conselice, an astrophysicist at the University of Manchester who attended the meeting, was at first baffled by the concern because, well, pirates, but it quickly clicked. Its departure date will be kept secret, someone said at the meeting, to protect against pirates who might want to capture the precious cargo and hold it for ransom. Webb, with a mirror as tall as a two-story building and a protective shield the size of a tennis court, is too large for a plane. Later this year, the telescope will travel by ship to a launch site in South America, passing through the Panama Canal to reach French Guiana. The topic came up at a recent meeting about NASA’s James Webb space telescope, named for a former administrator of the space agency. So, naturally, the people responsible for the telescope’s safety are now thinking about pirates. Name a problem, and this telescope-meant to be the most powerful of its kind, a worthy successor to the famous Hubble-has faced it: poor management, technical errors, budget overruns, schedule delays, and a pandemic. NASA’s new space telescope has had a rough go. ‘‘We hope pirates don’t take it,” one astrophysicist said.
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