NASA Delays Launch of Newest Space Telescope

美国宇航局再次推迟韦伯太空望远镜的发射

By Bryan Lynn
20 July 2020

NASA says it has postponed the launch of its newest space telescope because of the coronavirus crisis and technical issues.
美国宇航局表示，由于新冠病毒危机以及技术问题，其最新太空望远镜的发射已经推迟。

The U.S. space agency says the launch of its James Webb Space Telescope is now planned for October 31, 2021. The launch has been delayed many times. Before the recent postponement, it had been set for March 2021.
美国宇航局表示，其詹姆斯·韦伯太空望远镜现在计划于2021年10月31日发射。该太空望远镜的发射已经推迟了很多次。在最近这次推迟之前，它原定于2021年3月发射。

The Webb is supposed to replace NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, which has been in operation for 30 years.
韦伯太空望远镜本该取代美国宇航局已经运行了30年的哈勃太空望远镜。

NASA has identified the new telescope as a top science priority. The large infrared telescope has a nearly seven-meter mirror for exploring space. It is designed to look deeper into space and offer more answers about the past than any other spacecraft.
美国宇航局已经将这台新的太空望远镜确定为首要科学任务。这台大型红外望远镜配备了近7米口径的反射镜用于探索太空。它旨在比其它任何航天器更深入地探索太空，并提供有关宇宙过往的更多答案。

The James Webb Space Telescope was first set to fly more than 10 years ago, but has faced major development delays. Its last planned liftoff was canceled in 2018.
韦伯太空望远镜最初定于10多年前发射，但是遇到了重大的开发延误。它上一次计划升空于2018年被取消。

NASA officials said things seemed to be progressing well for the March launch date until the coronavirus hit. NASA said restrictions related to the health crisis had slowed work on the telescope by its main maker, America's Northrop Grumman.
美国宇航局官员表示，明年3月发射的各项工作似乎进展很顺利，直到新冠病毒袭来。美国宇航局表示，与这次健康危机相关的各种限制措施延缓了其主要制造商美国诺斯罗普·格鲁曼公司对望远镜的开发工作。

"Mission success is critical, but team safety is our highest priority," NASA Associate Administrator Steve Jurczyk told The Associated Press.
美国宇航局副局长史蒂夫·尤尔齐克对美联社表示：“任务成功至关重要，但是团队安全是我们的第一要务。”

Thomas Zurbuchen is with NASA's Science Mission Directorate. He said, "Webb is the world's most complex space observatory, and our top science priority, and we've worked hard to keep progress moving during the pandemic."
托马斯·泽布臣任职于美国宇航局科学任务理事会。他说：“韦伯太空望远镜是世界上最复杂的太空观测站，也是我们的首要科学任务，在新冠疫情大流行期间，我们一直在努力保持进展。”

NASA noted that costs related to the latest postponement would not be greater than the $8.8 billion spending limit for development on the project set by Congress.
美国宇航局指出，最近这次推迟的相关费用不会超过国会为该项目设定的88亿美元的开发支出限额。

Officials say several important tests will be carried out on the telescope in the coming months. The project team will also seek to reopen and refold Webb's massive sun shield one last time. The shield is needed to keep the infrared telescope cold in space.
官员们表示，未来几个月将对这台太空望远镜进行几项重要测试。项目团队还将寻求最后一次重新打开并重新折叠韦伯太空望远镜的大型遮光罩。必须使用遮光罩让红外太空望远镜在太空中维持低温。

NASA plans to transport the telescope next summer to its launch site in French Guiana on the northeast coast of South America. The Guiana Space Centre is a French and European Space Agency launch site.
美国宇航局计划于明年夏天将这台太空望远镜运送到位于南美东北海岸的法属圭亚那的发射场。圭亚那航天中心是法国和欧洲航天局的发射场。

After the launch, Webb will travel 1.5 million kilometers from Earth to orbit the sun. It will unfold the sun shield and deploy its mirror, which is designed to look for signs of light from far-away stars and galaxies.
韦伯太空望远镜在发射之后将从地球飞出去150万公里，然后绕太阳公转。它将打开遮光罩并展开其反射镜，该反射镜旨在寻找遥远的恒星和星系发出的光的迹象。

Eric Smith is a NASA program scientist with the Webb program. He said the telescope will seek to observe "light from the first generation of galaxies that formed in the early universe after the Big Bang." Webb is also designed to study the atmospheres of nearby exoplanets for possible signs of life.
埃里克·史密森是美国宇航局参与韦伯计划的科学家。他说，该太空望远镜将试图观察“来自于宇宙大爆炸后早期宇宙中形成的第一代星系的光。”韦伯太空望远镜还旨在研究附近系外行星的大气，以寻找潜在的生命迹象。

NASA says it plans to keep the Hubble and Webb telescopes operating together for a time.
美国宇航局称其计划让哈勃与韦伯太空望远镜一起运行一段时间。

Smith noted that while Webb will be exploring new things, it will also be looking at many of the same things that Hubble did. "For me, it will be seeing old friends with completely new eyes," Smith said.
史密森指出，尽管韦伯太空望远镜将会探索新事物，但是它也将研究哈勃太空望远镜做过的很多事情。史密森表示：“对我而言，这将是以崭新的目光见到老朋友。”

I'm Bryan Lynn.
我是布莱恩·琳恩。

Words in This Story

priority – n. something that is more important than other things and that needs to be done first

infrared – n. technical: producing or using rays of light that cannot be seen and that are longer than rays that produce red light

mirror – n. a piece of glass with metallic material on one side that produces an image of anything in front of it

pandemic – n. an occurrence in which a disease spreads very quickly and affects a large number of people

shield – n. an object used to protect something

refold – v. a process in which the sides of something are folded on top of each other to make it smaller

site – n. place where something happens

galaxy – n. a large group of stars from the same universe

Big Bang – n. the large explosion that many scientists believed created the universe

exoplanet – n. planets that orbit a star outside the solar system

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