Start możliwy jest w styczniu lub lutym 2019, ale określenie dokładniejszej daty będzie możliwe po styczniowym przeglądzie statusu misji.
Na razie głównym powodem opóźnienia startu były przedłużające się testy teleskopu.
Dalsze opóźnienia są możliwe, bo minimalizowanie ryzyka niepowodzenia misji ma priorytet.
Independent review to examine JWST launch plansby Jeff Foust — December 7, 2017
(...) That review won’t start until January, he said, because of ongoing tests of unfolding the sunshade of the space telescope. Previous tests, he said, took much longer than anticipated, playing a key factor in the decision to delay the launch. An updated launch date, he said, would likely come in “January or February.”
Such an independent review was proposed earlier in the hearing by another witness, retired aerospace executive Thomas Young. “In my opinion, the launch date and required funding cannot be determined until a new plan is thoroughly developed and verified by independent review,” he said.
Young warned that attempting to minimize schedule delays or additional cost to JWST could add risk to the mission. “JWST is at a point in its development where the only criterion that is important is mission success,” he said. “At this stage in the project, a few extra days or weeks or even months of schedule delay, or the expenditure of some additional dollars, is a small price to pay to ensure success of a mission as important as JWST.”
Zurbuchen didn’t identify any additional issues that might lead to more delays for JWST. However, Cristina Chaplain of the Government Accountability Office cautioned that the risk for such delays remained given the assembly and testing phase the spacecraft is in.
“More delays are possible given the risks associated with the work ahead and the level of schedule reserves that are now below what is usually recommended,” she said. (...)
http://spacenews.com/independent-review-to-examine-jwst-launch-plans/