James Webb Space Telescope Vs. Technical Issues & Old Homophobia.
As the James Web Space Telescope is preparing to launch, it faces technical issues and a petition requiring it to be renamed.
Image by Ondřej Šponiar from Pixabay
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The European Space Agency (ESA) held a press conference on Tuesday. They talked about the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) that is readying for launch. Not only did ESA participate in its creation it will also get it into space. The 10,000,000,000 dollar telescope will be carried by the European rocket Ariane 5. But, this previously quite reliable rocket recently had some issues.
Technical Issues
In May, you may have heard information about Ariane 5 having problems. The company Arianespace that operates the rocket didn’t want to comment but now the information was confirmed.
The last launch of Ariane 5 took place in August of 2020. During this launch and also the launch that took place in February of 2020 problems appear. When the aerodynamic cover was separated vibrations went way over the limit. While the cargo wasn’t in danger if a 10 billion dollar telescope is on board it is worrisome.
ESA now says the problem was solved. There are still two launches with “regular” satellites planed before JWST should go into orbit – one on the 16th of July and the second in August. If both of the launches go as expected and don’t encounter and problem the launch of JWST will get prepared and while originally it was expected to launch on the 31st of October now the launch is planned for November.
JWST will be placed into the L2 point between Sun and the Earth – about 1,500,000 km away from Earth. Originally, JWST was planned to launch in 2010 with a budget of 2.5 billion dollars. But as you can see, the budget grew significantly over time.
Homophobia
JWST is named after a former leader of NASA. James Webb was in charge of NASA from 1961 to 1968 was there when space travel was just being born. James Webb died in 1992.
A petition has appeared on the Internet that wants the telescope renamed. Astronomers, students, fans of astronomy, and many others signed the petition. They want the telescope renamed because of Webb’s role in the Lavender Scare – a campaign that took place in about the middle of the previous century when the government of the United States removed homosexuals from their ranks on mass.
The authors of the petition also mention an incident from the time when Webb was in charge of NASA. Back then, NASA interrogated and then sacked one of their employees because of homosexuality. While Webb wasn’t directly part of this incident he also didn’t do anything against it while being in charge.
Sources:
- https://spacenews.com/ariane-5-issue-could-delay-jwst/
- https://vtm.zive.cz/clanky/nasa-se-obava-o-vesmirny-dalekohled-jamese-webba-mohli-by-ho-ukrast-pirati/sc-870-a-209021/default.aspx
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