A New Hope for NASA's James Webb Telescope

 

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, which has been threatened with cancellation due to cost overruns, may have one last chance to actually see operation thanks to some creative accounting.
The telescope has already cost NASA $3.5 billion, and the agency recently concluded that the final cost of the telescope would be $8.7 billion, with a 2018 launch date (previous estimates put the price tag at $6.8 billion). Until now NASA's science division has footed the entire cost of the Webb, but a new proposal suggests the subsequent costs be shared 50/50 with NASA proper.
While the change essentially amounts to some accounting sleight-of-hand, it makes sense when you take a close look at NASA's budget. Like many government programs, NASA has been hit with budget cuts, and the science division's entire budget is $5 billion for 2011, with astrophysics—which the telescope technically is a part of—is just $1 billion. The entire agency, however, has a budget of about $19 billion. "There's an acknowledgement that the science budget can't solve this on its own," Matt Mountain, director of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, told Scientific American.
The so-called "replan" for the Webb now goes to the White House's Office of Management and Budget (OMB). If it's approved, the Webb will have a second lease on life, which was called into question earlier this year when a House committee voted to explicitly kill the project. However, if the OMB rejects the proposal, it's unlikely the Webb telescope will ever get to space.
Made to be the successor to the Hubble, the James Webb Space Telescope will scan the infrared spectrum and be able to see further out into space than ever before. Because of temperature and interference issues with infrared scanning, the telescope must be positioned far from Earth and kept very cold, which has led to many of the cost overrruns. In addition, since servicing the telescope will be impossible, the Webb requires extensive testing.
In a preious interview, NASA's Rick Howard told PCMag that NASA had to invent several new technologies for the telescope to work. "We've had ten or so technologies that needed to work in order to have this kind of telescop—mirrors actuators, the sunshade. We've had to invent new adhesives for carbon fiber because what we thought was the right chemical equation didn't work at all."
If it ever sees operation, the Webb could unlock many discoveries. Among the many things it promises to reveal, the early universe will be visible to the Webb, showing what the cosmos was like before stars existed. It also will have better methods of detecting which extra-solar planets may have life on them.