Coronavirus pauses work on JWSTby Jeff Foust — March 20, 2020
NASA has stopped integration and testing work on the James Webb Space Telescope as it prioritizes what missions require on-site personnel during the coronavirus pandemic. Credit: Northrop GrummanWASHINGTON — NASA has suspended work on the James Webb Space Telescope as it prioritizes what agency missions require people to be on site during the coronavirus pandemic.
In a statement March 20, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said NASA had completed an assessment of work across the agency, deciding which projects are essential enough to require people to go to NASA centers or other facilities to work on them.
“We are going to take care of our people. That’s our first priority,” said Bridenstine. “Technology allows us to do a lot of what we need to do remotely, but, where hands-on work is required, it is difficult or impossible to comply with [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] guidelines while processing spaceflight hardware, and where we can’t safely do that we’re going to have to suspend work and focus on the mission-critical activities.”
JWST, NASA’s next astrophysics flagship mission, is one of the projects that NASA is putting on hold. Work on integration and testing of the space telescope, which had been ongoing at a Northrop Grumman facility in Southern California, will be suspended.“Decisions could be adjusted as the situation continues to unfold over the weekend and into next week,” NASA said in its statement. “The decision was made to ensure the safety of the workforce. The observatory remains safe in its cleanroom environment.”
During an online town hall meeting for NASA’s science program earlier March 20, Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA associate administrator for science, suggested the mission would be delayed. “It will be impacted,” he said. NASA personnel involved in that work had been reduced, he said, in part to allow those on travel to return home to their families.
“That will lead to changes in our schedule,” he said. “It’s anticipated that,
by early April, the Webb project will be experiencing day-for-day scheduling impact to its critical path.” (...)
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