{"id":18457,"date":"2018-06-28T01:37:11","date_gmt":"2018-06-27T17:37:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/after-review-nasa-resets-webb-telescope-launch-for-2021-with-9-66b-price-tag\/"},"modified":"2018-06-28T01:37:11","modified_gmt":"2018-06-27T17:37:11","slug":"after-review-nasa-resets-webb-telescope-launch-for-2021-with-9-66b-price-tag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/after-review-nasa-resets-webb-telescope-launch-for-2021-with-9-66b-price-tag\/","title":{"rendered":"After review, NASA resets Webb Telescope launch for 2021 with $9.66B price tag"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"James
The mirror for NASA\u2019s James Webb Space Telescope rises from a shop floor at NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center during assembly. (NASA Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NASA says the launch of its flagship James Webb Space Telescope is being rescheduled for no earlier than 2021, with its total price tag boosted to $9.66 billion.<\/p>\n

That price tag includes a development cost of $8.8 billion, which breaks the $8 billion development cost cap mandated by Congress in 2011. That was the last time the Webb project went through a do-or-die debate.<\/p>\n

\u201cCongress will have to reauthorize Webb through this next cycle of authorization,\u201d NASA Associate Administrator Steve Jurczyk said today during a teleconference announcing the reset.<\/p>\n

NASA officials strongly supported going ahead with the telescope, which is in the latter stages of testing and assembly. The general-purpose telescope is expected to build on the trailblazing observations of the Hubble Space Telescope and provide unprecedented insights about exoplanets and the farthest frontiers of the observable universe.<\/p>\n

\u201cWebb is worth the wait,\u201d said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA\u2019s Science Mission Directorate.<\/p>\n

That sentiment was seconded by NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWebb is a top-priority mission that has great national importance for the agency and it will move forward,\u201d Bridenstine said. \u201cWebb will leave a legacy of exceptional science and cutting-edge technical innovations in the years ahead and will inspire future generations of astronomers, explorers, scientists, artists and engineers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the past year, the schedule for Webb\u2019s launch on a European Space Agency Ariane 5 rocket has been reset from 2018 to 2019 to 2020, and now to no earlier than March 30, 2021. The longer wait and higher cost are in line with an assessment by an independent review board, headed by veteran aerospace executive Tom Young.<\/p>\n

Young confirmed that the cost of delays was building up at about $1 million a day. His board\u2019s report traced the snags to five factors, ranging from human errors and problems embedded in the assembly process to lack of experience, systems complexity and excessive optimism.<\/p>\n

The previously documented human errors include the use of a solvent that ruined some of the valves on the telescope\u2019s thruster system, improper installation of fasteners for the cover of the telescope\u2019s sunshield cover, and a heater test that was conducted at the wrong voltage.<\/p>\n

Young said the mistakes could have been avoided with \u201csimple fixes that were not implemented,\u201d but ended up costing the project $600 million.<\/p>\n

The independent panel\u2019s report laid out 32 steps to amend the project\u2019s failings by bringing in more oversight and more quality control.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe fully agree with 30 of those,\u201d Zurbuchen said. Two of the recommendations focus on more complex issues and require additional review, but \u201cwe fully agree with the intent,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The James Webb Space Telescope project is significantly more complex than Hubble because it\u2019s designed to make observations from a gravitational balance point a million miles from Earth, with no scenario for servicing.<\/p>\n

The supercooled telescope will require a sunshield that\u2019s folded up origami-style for launch and has to unfold unfailingly in space. Young said there was \u201cno significant legacy\u201d for such a system, which adds to the mission risk.<\/p>\n

\u201cMission success is the top priority,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The new price tag of $9.66 billion includes costs for integration and testing of the telescope, as well as funding for the first five years of operation.<\/p>\n

NASA officials and scientists vowed to keep the project on track for 2021, even as they voiced annoyance and frustration over past delays.<\/p>\n

\u201cMake no mistake,\u201d Zurbuchen said. \u201cI\u2019m not happy sitting here having to share this story. We never want to do this. We always want to talk about the successes that we have.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The mirror for NASA\u2019s James Webb Space Telescope rises from a shop floor at NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center during assembly. (NASA Photo) NASA says the launch of its flagship James Webb Space Telescope is being rescheduled for no earlier than 2021, with its total price tag boosted to $9.66 billion. That price tag includes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1560,190],"class_list":["post-18457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-james-webb-space-telescope","tag-nasa"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18457"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18457\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}