How the Webb Space Telescope Got So Expensive

Posted by timothy on Saturday September 10, 2011 @08:40AM from the pity-we-can't-short-the-stock dept.

First time accepted submitter IICV writes "Ethan Siegel of Starts with a Bang has done some research on how and why the James Webb Space Telescope's price tag ballooned. Quoting: 'Something wasn't adding up. How could the telescope be more than three-quarters complete after $3.5 billion, but require more than double that amount to finish it? Also, how did the launch date get bumped by three years, to 2018? And how did 6.5 billion become a disastrous $8.7 billion so quickly? So I did a little digging around, and perhaps a little investigative reporting as well, and got ahold of a Webb Project Scientist who's also a member of the Webb Science Working Group.'" Whether or not you buy the argument that the money's well-spent (at $5 billion or $8 billion, or either side of these), even the work in progress is beautiful.

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Re:Synopsis by Em+Adespoton · 2011-09-10 09:50 · Score: -1, Troll

I wish *I* could come in a few hundred million dollars over budget and have people think that's a good thing....
Interesting to think that not only did this project have a budget the size of a small nation, it actually was projected to exceed its budget by the GDP of another small nation.
And despite this, Congress didn't have an active oversight committee watching this thing???? The project was a small dictator-led country in it's own right, with debt, deficit, and the works!