Artemis II’s Possible Impact on JWST Science Operations

January 23, 2026

NASA has recently begun preparations for the Artemis II mission, which will send four astronauts on a journey around the Moon. The Artemis missions share the Deep Space Network (DSN) with other missions, including JWST. The DSN is a limited resource and when different missions compete for that resource human spaceflight is the top priority.

There are multiple launch opportunities for Artemis II during February to April 2026. The JWST operations team has been considering potential DSN limitations or outages and developing mitigation strategies for these windows, such as replanning science visits to work around DSN shortages.

The goal is to preserve mission safety while enabling as much science as possible. If Artemis II launches in February, the impact on JWST DSN usage will be negligible. A March launch will result in modest but manageable impacts. If the launch slips to April, JWST may execute significantly fewer science observations for approximately one week, depending on the exact launch date.

As the Artemis II launch date is finalized, we will keep the JWST science community informed about potential impacts and mitigation plans.

Astrobiology, Astronomy, Artemis,