Webb faces more delays, cost overruns
A new GAO report released yesterday says that the James Webb Space Telescope faces further delays and cost overruns.
This is par for the course. Webb has become an incredible boondoggle. I hope it eventually gets launched and works, but its gigantic cost, $8 to $9 billion (compared to an original $1 billion budget), and delayed schedule suggests that this was not the right way for NASA or the astronomical community to build its space telescopes. Further, this quote from the story suggests something fundamentally wrong:
The GAO report also noted that, during the sunshield deployment exercises, Northrop discovered several tears in the material which it attributed to “workmanship error.” Those tears can be repaired but may consume more schedule reserve.
Is this thing really going to work? I really hope so, but have been increasingly doubtful as the delays and problems have piled up.
Meanwhile, NASA and the astronomical community is still pushing to get funding for its next “Webb,” the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST). This project, similar in scope as Webb, is hardly off the ground and already has budget overrun issues. The Trump administration recommended cancelling in its budget proposal earlier this month, but I would be surprised if that recommendation goes through, considering the pork this new project represents.
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A new GAO report released yesterday says that the James Webb Space Telescope faces further delays and cost overruns.
This is par for the course. Webb has become an incredible boondoggle. I hope it eventually gets launched and works, but its gigantic cost, $8 to $9 billion (compared to an original $1 billion budget), and delayed schedule suggests that this was not the right way for NASA or the astronomical community to build its space telescopes. Further, this quote from the story suggests something fundamentally wrong:
The GAO report also noted that, during the sunshield deployment exercises, Northrop discovered several tears in the material which it attributed to “workmanship error.” Those tears can be repaired but may consume more schedule reserve.
Is this thing really going to work? I really hope so, but have been increasingly doubtful as the delays and problems have piled up.
Meanwhile, NASA and the astronomical community is still pushing to get funding for its next “Webb,” the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST). This project, similar in scope as Webb, is hardly off the ground and already has budget overrun issues. The Trump administration recommended cancelling in its budget proposal earlier this month, but I would be surprised if that recommendation goes through, considering the pork this new project represents.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
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Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
And it was the deployment of the Sun shield that failed (April last year?). If the mirror unfolding got stuck, it is at least theoretically possible to send some kind of helping spacecraft to help it out. Or maybe even use it partially unfolded. But this is especially serious since without the Sun screen deploying in time, the hyper sensitive infrared instruments would soon overheat and be destroyed.
Everyone who has seen the deployment procedure cartoon of the JWST immediately worries that maybe something could get stuck in that elaborate process. No no, nothing can get stuck, everyone with a title said. Then now in the last test, something got stuck! And in a lab with totally controlled environment.
And they are working three shifts now at full capacity to make the spacecraft work. I hope that doesn’t induce any sloppiness and shortcuts under pressure. They make me worry. I really want to see the first stars that ever lit up our universe.
If this mirror breaks, there will be no wiping up of the “tears” during the seven years of bad luck that follows. In space, no one can hear the astronomer cry.
I think it might be a good thing that they canceled WFIRST. That spy mirror donated will certainly be used by NASA anyway. It is an infrared wide field mirror, so that’s what it will do. But maybe in a better managed mission than the first WFIRST proposal, that might’ve collected too much fat already in the blue prints.
This project reminds me of SLS, but at least with that we have SpaceX to count on, so does anyone see a viable commercial company taking over a project of this size and doing it the right way?
Jason Hillyer asked: “does anyone see a viable commercial company taking over a project of this size and doing it the right way?”
Does this project have to be this size?
And yes, I do see a viable commercial company taking on a project of this size and larger: SpaceX took on a very heavy lift launch vehicle and spent significantly less than government programs on similar or even smaller launch vehicles.
I am not sure that JWST was designed in the most cost effective way, and it certainly was not executed well, as the GAO has reported in recent years. There were political motivations to make it an international project, and that had some consequences when the European cryocooler did not make schedule.