SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
from the hurricane-blew-schedule-out-of-the-water dept.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is warning of possible further delays to the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST):
A government watchdog is warning that the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the long-awaited successor to the Hubble that's been beset by schedule snafus and cost overruns, might face further delays. NASA announced in September it had pushed back the launch date of the JWST from late 2018 to some time in the spring of 2019 due to testing delays partly blamed on Hurricane Harvey's impact on Texas' Gulf Coast in August.
On Wednesday, lawmakers on the House Science, Space and Technology Committee were told it could take even longer to launch the world's most powerful telescope. "More delays are possible given the risks associated with the work ahead and the level of schedule reserves that are now (below) what's recommended," said Cristina Chaplain, director of Acquisition and Sourcing Management for the Government Accountability Office.
[...] Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA's associate administrator for science missions, told lawmakers he expects the space agency will be able to meet the spring 2019 schedule. "I believe it's achievable," he said.
Previously: James Webb Space Telescope Vibration Testing Completed
Launch of James Webb Space Telescope Delayed to Spring 2019
Related: Maiden Flight of the Space Launch System Delayed to 2019
NASA Unlikely to Have Enough Plutonium-238 for Missions by the Mid-2020s
WFIRST Space Observatory Could be Scaled Back Due to Costs
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday December 07 2017, @06:34PM (1 child)
WFIRST is similar to Hubble [wikipedia.org] but that hasn't seemed to help:
NASA is Working on a Telescope With an Even Wider Eye than Hubble [soylentnews.org]
WFIRST Space Observatory Could be Scaled Back Due to Costs [soylentnews.org]
WTF are you talking about? Their space exploits have been neither cheap nor successful:
December 7, 2011: Why Russia's Mars Failure Is Bad News for NASA [popularmechanics.com]
December 9, 2011: Russian Scientist Apologizes for Failed Mars Moon Mission [space.com]
August 9, 2012: Medvedev says space failures cost Russia prestige and cash [reuters.com]
May 23, 2015: Russia's space program has seen better days [businessinsider.com]
December 7, 2016: Russia's Space Program Is Blowing Up. So Are Its Rockets [wired.com]
March 21, 2017: Russia’s Space Program Is Struggling Mightily [slate.com]
October 4, 2017: 60 years after Sputnik, Russian space program faces troubles [phys.org]
November 2017: The second launch from Russia’s new spaceport has failed [arstechnica.com]
December 5, 2017: Russian PM demands accountability, remedy for failed rocket launch [xinhuanet.com]
Maybe you meant to say ESA [wikipedia.org], JAXA [wikipedia.org], or ISRO [wikipedia.org]. Russia is not a good example. NASA relies on them to get humans to the ISS... for now. But their many recent failures are just another reason to get away from them.
India launched an orbiter [wikipedia.org] to Mars in 2013, at a very low cost of $73 million. The last successful Russian Mars missions [wikipedia.org] happened back when the Soviet Union existed (ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter does not count since competent Europeans were involved).
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 08 2017, @06:41AM
You are mostly listing unmanned missions. Russia's manned missions have a pretty good record.