Today’s statement announcing the delay to March-June 2019 makes no mention of the ESA launch conflict. The only potential hiccup was that ESA might need the October 2018 Ariane launch slot for one of its own missions that has a constrained planetary launch window, which could have meant a JWST launch slip to February 2019. Until today’s announcement, it appeared that all was well. NASA and Congress have kept a close watch on the program since then. The European Space Agency (ESA) is providing the launch as part of a cooperative no-exchange-of-funds agreement with NASA. The cap does not include operations or launch. The NASA cost and launch estimates included reserves to cover unexpected problems.Ĭongress supported the rebaselined program, but cost-capped it at that $8 billion. A subsequent internal NASA review led to a rebaselining of the program in 2011 with an even higher cost estimate - $8 billion - with launch in October 2018. It estimated JWST would cost $6.5 billion with launch no earlier than September 2015. The Casani report blamed poor management as the fundamental problem. The independent review was headed by John Casani, a veteran project manager at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. At the time, she chaired the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that funds NASA and was an ardent supporter of NASA, especially programs like JWST that are managed by Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) demanded an independent review to ferret out the reasons. By 2010, it was estimated to cost $5.1 billion with launch in 2014. Costs continued to grow and the schedule slipped. Implementing its recommendation for the next in the series, the Wide-Field Infrared Space Telescope (WFIRST), was delayed because the funds were required for JWST instead.Įarly cost estimates for JWST were in the $1 billion-$3.5 billion range, but grew to $4.5 billion by 2005. Decadal Surveys are conducted by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine about every 10 years (a decade) to identify science priorities for each of NASA’s science disciplines (astrophysics, planetary science, earth science, heliophysics, and life and physical sciences in space).Īnother astrophysics decadal survey was completed in 2010. JWST was the top priority for a new large space telescope to follow the Hubble Space Telescope in the 2000 Decadal Survey for astrophysics. JWST is an infrared telescope, so must be maintained at a very low temperature to make its observations. The wafer-looking structure under it is the sunshield to protect it from the Sun. The gold honeycomb shaped structure is the telescope. Artist’s illustration of the James Webb Space Telescope. That date now has slipped again, although NASA insists it will not increase costs. After experiencing repeated cost overruns and schedule delays during the 2000s, NASA restructured the program in 2011 and vowed it would meet the newly established launch date of October 2018. NASA revealed today that launch of the $8 billion James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will slip from October 2018 to March-June 2019 because spacecraft integration is taking longer than expected.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |