New NASA Budget Woes · Slashdot Mirror

Posted by timothy on Sunday May 22, 2005 @10:40AM from the all-out-of-taxdollar-pie dept.

Abcd1234 writes "The last few months have seen NASA the focal point of high drama, the most obvious example being the controversy surrounding the next Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission. Well, the drama continues with NASA reporting to a Senate subcommitee that it currently faces a $2 billion budget shortfall which could result in the downsizing, delaying, or outright cancellation of a number of NASA missions, including the Space Interferometry Mission and Terrestrial Planet Finder, which may be delayed, and the James Webb Space Telescope, often cited as the successor to the HST, which faces potential cancellation. Among the reasons for the shortfall: cost overruns in a number of missions, including the shuttle return-to-flight program, resumption of the Hubble servicing mission, and mandated congressional expenditures (a.k.a 'pork')."

1 of 273 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

Re:An Example of a Short Sited Administration by Chairboy · 2005-05-22 10:59 · Score: 5, Informative

Incorrect. The JWST hasn't even started major construction, and the estimated (and optimistic) launch date is late 2011.

Hubble is a bird in the hand, and the JWST is two birds flying around in the future, and part of an organization that routinely starts and cancels projects.

Don't count your telescopes before they've hatched.