Hubble telescope's successor could face budget ax

[The Straight Story]

Hubble telescope's successor could face budget ax

For years, astronomers have set their sights on launching a successor to the Hubble Space Telescope— one with 100 times its power — that could peer back to the earliest light of the universe. But funding for the costly James Webb Space Telescope is now targeted for the chopping block.

Amid the larger budget debate, a House appropriations committee vote this month proposed killing the telescope.

Costs have risen to $6.8billion — up 50% from a 2005 estimate — and may go higher after another NASA review next year.

The telescope is "billions of dollars over budget and plagued by poor management," said the committee, in a statement accompanying the bill, which also proposed cutting NASA's budget 9% to $16.8 billion.


http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/space/2011-07-28-James-Webb-Space-Telescope-budget-cuts_n.htm

[RaleighNCDUer]

1. 6.8 BILLION! That's incredible!

That's almost a full week of the Afghanistan war!