NASA officers declared Thursday they are now targeting a launch day of October 31, 2021 for the James Webb Space Telescope. This represents a 7-month delay from the previously announced March 2021 date for the $10 billion telescope that will allow for experts to observe deeper into the universe than at any time in advance of.

In a teleconference, NASA experts spelled out that the most recent hold off has been pushed generally by the COVID-19 pandemic. Not only have staff at NASA and the telescope’s key contractor, Northrop Grumman, misplaced operate time—they were being functioning two shifts prior to the onset of the pandemic—the new plan aspects in the likely for added dropped time due to the virus.

Since of the extra margin in the program, the NASA officers expressed self-assurance in the new day. “We’re not expecting to go over and above Oct 31st,” said Gregory Robinson, NASA’s Webb method director.

Thomas Zurbuchen, who sales opportunities science packages for the room agency, said NASA has talked with the European Area Company about the new day and confirmed that an Ariane 5 rocket will be offered for the new launch day. The telescope will start from the European spaceport in French Guiana.

At existing, the telescope has three months of “program reserve” with the new start date, this means it can reduce that a great deal time for technical or pandemic good reasons involving now and next Oct and nonetheless launch on time. A few months of program reserve at this point in a important undertaking is about normal, so barring some main calamity or a significant worsening in the COVID-19 pandemic, it looks affordable to have some self confidence in the new start date.

Zurbuchen noted that, in the quarter prior to March and the onset of the pandemic, perform on the Webb telescope lost no time.

If NASA can hold to the current routine and encounters no major supplemental issues, officials also think the project’s existing spending plan will include the expenses of the delay—meaning the room company will need not return to Congress to request for extra income.

The Webb telescope, NASA’s observe-on instrument to the wildly prosperous Hubble House Telescope, was at first because of to launch about a 10 years back, with a advancement cost of $1 billion. Because then, specialized complications and delays have bedeviled the complex telescope.

Setting up Webb has been tricky since its 6.5-meter mirror requires to unfurl alone the moment it reaches an orbit about 1.5 million kilometers from Earth. This is an exceedingly advanced method, and there are far more than 300 solitary points of failure aboard the observatory. NASA has experienced a difficult time testing them all on Earth in conditions that mimic the temperatures, strain, and microgravity of deep area.