Is NASA faking success of launch stress test results for JWST?
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2020/nasa-s-james-webb-space-telescope-completes-environmental-testing
>Oct. 6, 2020
>With the completion of its latest series of milestone tests, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has now survived all of the harsh conditions associated with a rocket launch to space.
https://spacenews.com/jwst-remains-on-track-for-october-2021-launch/
>October 20, 2020
>JWST is still dealing with some technical issues. One ongoing one is a concern that residual air trapped in the folded sunshield could overstress it when the Ariane 5 that launches the spacecraft jettisons the payload fairing. Smith said the program has been working with Arianespace to change air vents in the fairing.
>On two Ariane 5 launches with the new vents, sensors measured residual air pressures inside the fairing nearly double the rated capability of the sunshield. “There’s a little more pencil sharpening that has to be done on this issue,” he said.
>That work includes work by NASA and Northrop Grumman to see if the spacecraft can tolerate the higher residual pressures measured on the launches. If not, he said some parts of the spacecraft may need to be “patched” to handle the higher pressures, work he said would be completed by December.
>“It’s only a few places in the sunshield where it feels the stress above requirements,” he said. Any patching work, he estimated, would require no more than a few days of schedule margin.
Are they planning to have the launch fail because they can't get the thing built correctly?
A launch failure is wonderful spectacular way to scuttle the project without anyone having to acknowledge the waste
https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2020/nasa-s-james-webb-space-telescope-completes-environmental-testing
>Oct. 6, 2020
>With the completion of its latest series of milestone tests, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has now survived all of the harsh conditions associated with a rocket launch to space.
https://spacenews.com/jwst-remains-on-track-for-october-2021-launch/
>October 20, 2020
>JWST is still dealing with some technical issues. One ongoing one is a concern that residual air trapped in the folded sunshield could overstress it when the Ariane 5 that launches the spacecraft jettisons the payload fairing. Smith said the program has been working with Arianespace to change air vents in the fairing.
>On two Ariane 5 launches with the new vents, sensors measured residual air pressures inside the fairing nearly double the rated capability of the sunshield. “There’s a little more pencil sharpening that has to be done on this issue,” he said.
>That work includes work by NASA and Northrop Grumman to see if the spacecraft can tolerate the higher residual pressures measured on the launches. If not, he said some parts of the spacecraft may need to be “patched” to handle the higher pressures, work he said would be completed by December.
>“It’s only a few places in the sunshield where it feels the stress above requirements,” he said. Any patching work, he estimated, would require no more than a few days of schedule margin.
Are they planning to have the launch fail because they can't get the thing built correctly?
A launch failure is wonderful spectacular way to scuttle the project without anyone having to acknowledge the waste
