Like everything else nowadays even developments in space exploration are being impacted by the worldwide coronavirus pandemic. With the disease spreading like wildfire even NASA hasn’t been spared with personnel at both Cape Kennedy and the Manned Spaceflight Center in Houston having been tested as positive for the virus. In fact the need for ‘Social Distancing’ by the space agency’s personnel has seriously affected, if not actually brought to a halt the work on nearly every NASA program.
This includes the final tests and preparations for the James Webb space telescope, which was due to be launched just a year from now in March of 2021. The space telescope itself is currently in California where it had been undergoing its final assembly and testing. However California’s governor has ordered that all ‘non-essential’ workers remain at home so the entire effort on NASA’s largest unmanned program has come to a complete halt. How much of a delay this will add to the already behind schedule launch of the Webb telescope is impossible to say at present.
However there are other programs that simply cannot be put on hold for one reason or another. The new Mars rover, recently given the name ‘Perseverance’ is perhaps the best example of this. You see the spacecraft’s launch window, the period of time when Mars is in the right position relative to Earth in the Solar system for a spacecraft to reach it, is only open during July and August of this year. If Perseverance doesn’t launch during that time frame then the mission will have to be delayed for a full 26 months until the next window opens in late 2022.
Because of that hard deadline NASA personnel are working around the clock on the final preparations for the spacecraft’s launch. Fortunately Perseverance has already been delivered to Cape Kennedy and is now undergoing prelaunch assembly but there’s still a considerable amount of work remaining. And even with the threat of a covid-19 shutdown looming over their work the technicians at Kennedy still have to do a meticulous, almost perfect job, anything less could compromise the success of the entire mission.
Part of the preparations for Perseverance’s launch included the last test here on Earth of the little drone helicopter that will accompany Perseverance down to the Martian surface. Before being packed into the rover vehicle for its long trip the helicopter’s two rotor blades were spun at 50 RPM on a test stand, the last time they will spin before they do so in the thin Martian atmosphere. While the helicopter is not considered an integral part of the Perseverance mission, officially it is referred to as a technology demonstration, if successful the little drone will take the first flight of any manmade object on another planet.
Another mission that could be delayed because of Covid-19 is Space X’s long anticipated first manned mission to the International Space Station (ISS). It was only a few weeks ago that Space X announced that this long awaited first manned mission of their Dragon capsule would take place the second week of May. That time frame however could very well put the mission right at the peak of the pandemic in Florida! Since this first mission of NASA’s commercial crew program is already more than two years behind schedule perhaps the wisest course at present would be to just delay the mission until well after the pandemic has run its course, until September or even later.
Speaking of the ISS, what happens to the astronauts who are aboard the station if Cape Kennedy has to be shut down because of the pandemic? While the astronauts themselves may be safe from Covid-19 their supply chain is definitely threatened by the situation here on Earth. All of the countries that are capable of resupplying the ISS are dealing with severe coronavirus outbreaks that may limit their ability to launch unmanned supply ships.
No doubt if the supply situation on the ISS should become critical then either the US or Russia would certainly, and ‘carefully’ assemble a resupply mission, but what if that launch should fail? In any case there is certainly a great risk that the normal operations of the ISS will be curtailed because of the virus.
All of this is just another sign of how much the coronavirus outbreak is now dominating almost every aspect of human life, and not just here on Earth.