For more than a generation, astronomers have been waiting for the James Webb Space Telescope, NASA’s successor to the iconic Hubble Space Telescope. On Tuesday they learned they will have to wait even longer, as agency officials revealed Webb’s launch date has slipped from spring of 2019 to approximately May 2020—a delay that could cost hundreds of millions of dollars, breaching the $8.8-billion telescope’s Congressionally mandated cost cap and requiring legislators to either provide more funding or abandon the project.
The delay also jeopardizes the next decadal survey, a once-every-10-years strategic plan produced by the National Academies that assesses the research landscape and makes recommendations to federal agencies and Congress about developing and funding future generations of ground- and space-based telescopes. Originally scheduled for completion after Webb had launched and begun science operations, the survey’s next iteration may instead now occur while Webb, arguably its most important consideration, is still on the ground.
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