Last month the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations sent a clear message to NASA by eliminating funding for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) in NASA’s spending bill. The warning: Avoid cost overruns on big missions or face cancellation. At the time, NASA staff members remained confident that the telescope would be in orbit by 2016. They argued that a reorganization of the management team would get JWST back on track.
On 16 August NASA confirmed reports by the BBC and Nature that the launch of JWST will be delayed until 2018, nearly five years past its initial launch date, and will cost an additional $1.5 billion, bringing its total bill to more than $8 billion. The cost increases are due to unexpected delays, additional personnel costs, and financial “padding” to deal with potential technical challenges.
Not a pretty picture. To read the rest of the article, click here.