---
title: "NASA Says Another James Webb Instrument Has Suffered a Glitch"
description: "One of the instruments attached to NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has encountered a glitch, making it \"currently unavailable for science observations.\""
date: "2023-01-27"
modified: "2023-01-27"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-james-webb-suffered-another-glitch"
categories:
  - "James Webb Space Telescope"
  - "NASA"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "james webb space telescope"
  - "NASA"
  - "the digest"
---

# NASA Says Another James Webb Instrument Has Suffered a Glitch

![One of the instruments attached to NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has encountered a glitch, making it "currently unavailable for science observations."](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/nasa-james-webb-suffered-a-glitch.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: NASA\</em\>*

## Comms Delay

NASA [says that](<https://blogs.nasa.gov/webb/2023/01/24/near-infrared-imager-and-slitless-spectrograph-operations-update/>) one of the scientific instruments attached to its uber-expensive James Webb Space Telescope has encountered a glitch, making it "currently unavailable for science observations."

The observatory's Near Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS) "experienced a communications delay within the instrument, causing its flight software to time out."

While that may sound like a serious technical problem, NASA claims that "there is no indication of any danger to the hardware, and the observatory and other instruments are all in good health."

In other words, things could be a whole lot worse. For now, though, the communications delay has forced the space agency to reschedule its observations.

## Glitched Again

In December, James Webb's scientific operations were also affected by a [different glitch](<https://blogs.nasa.gov/webb/2022/12/21/james-webb-space-telescope-operations-update/>) that caused onboard instruments to enter safe mode repeatedly.

NIRISS, one of James Webb's four primary instruments, allows the observatory to have a closer look at planets orbiting around some of the brightest stars in our corner of the universe.

It does so by taking "the star out of focus" and spreading "the light over lots of pixels to avoid saturating the detectors," according to [an explainer](<https://blogs.nasa.gov/webb/2022/05/12/seventeen-modes-to-discovery-webbs-final-commissioning-activities/>).

The instrument can also mask out light being reflected from 11 of James Webb's 18 primary mirror segments to be able to spot faint light sources next to much brighter ones.

This latest glitch is unlikely to pose a significant setback to the telescope's observations, thankfully.

The observatory has already spent [almost exactly a year](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/james-webb-final-destination>) at Lagrange point 2, roughly one million miles away — and has [been flooding astronomers](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/james-webb-too-much-data>) with an abundance of data ever since.

**More on James Webb:** *[Astronomers Complain That the JWST Is Producing Too Much Data](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/james-webb-too-much-data>)*

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)