Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Friday 29 June 2018

More delay, cost for NASA's next-generation space telescope

By MARCIA DUNN Besides improved over-
AP Aerospace Writer sight, he said there will be
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. more quality control and
(AP) — NASA's next-gener- more NASA engineers will
ation space telescope has be taking part in everything
been delayed yet again at moving forward.
a staggering cost of $1 mil- "We have to get this right
lion a day. here on the ground, before
For the third time in less than we go to space," Zurbu-
a year, the space agency chen said. "Webb is worth
announced a lengthy post- the wait."
ponement Wednesday for Northrup Grumman ac-
the James Webb Space knowledged that problems
Telescope . The observa- have put the project be-
tory will now fly no earlier hind schedule. The com-
than 2021; until last fall, it pany said it has changed
was on the books for a 2018 the way it works to prevent
launch. future issues.
The telescope's overall cost "We will not sacrifice quality
is now expected to reach for schedule. Mission suc-
nearly $10 billion. Devel- cess is our number one pri-
opment cost alone will ex- ority," spokesman Tim Payn-
ceed the $8 billion cap set ter said in a statement.
by Congress by more than This 2015 artist's rendering provided by Northrop Grumman via NASA shows the James Webb The review board has is-
$800 million, and require re- Space Telescope. On Wednesday, June 27, 2018, NASA announced that the next-generation sued 32 recommendations
authorization. telescope will now fly no earlier than 2021 and the its lifetime cost is now expected to reach and NASA intends to imple-
An independent review nearly $10 billion. Associated Press ment them all, officials said.
board cites worker error Last September, NASA an-
and embedded hardware valves had to be repaired tions. Worker morale also cessor to the Hubble Space nounced it was delaying
problems for much of the or replaced. took a hit as the problems Telescope — is meant to Webb's launch from 2018
escalating costs and de- Spacecraft sensors were mounted; the team had peer farther into space to 2019. Then in March,
lays. also zapped with excess limited time off because and deeper into time than the launch was postponed
In a vibration test of the voltage due to improper of excessive overtime, the ever before. It will operate from 2019 to 2020. Now it's
telescope earlier this year wiring. The inspector on board said. from a point 1 million miles March 30, 2021.
in California by prime con- duty relied on the techni- NASA repeatedly was (1.6 million kilometers) from The observatory's original
tractor Northrop Grumman, cian's word that he'd wired over-optimistic in the work Earth, unreachable by as- launch date was 2010 and
dozens of loose fasteners it correctly and did not schedule, especially giv- tronauts like the low-orbit- the cost under $1 billion. It
— some 70 pieces in all — double-check the work, en the complexities and ing Hubble — launched in was named after NASA's
came off. A few pieces the board said. unique features of the 1990 with a misshapen mir- second administrator, who
are still missing and could These are just some of the Webb telescope, Young ror — was. spearheaded the Apollo
well be inside the observa- "seemingly small" mistakes said. Its sunshield, the size "Make no mistake, I'm not moon landings.
tory. The lock nuts were not that could and should of a tennis court once un- happy sitting here having Young said if the board's
tightened properly before have been avoided, the furled in space, is needed to share this story. We never recommendations are "rig-
the test, according to a re- board said. The loose and to keep the infrared tele- want to do this. We always orously implemented," then
port by the board. lost nuts and bolts alone scope cold and is a major want to talk about the suc- the newest date is feasible.
In another mishap, the were enough to bump the risk area, he said. cesses that we have," said He warned the new date
wrong solvent was used mission into 2021, officials Despite the many prob- NASA's science mission does not allow for any
to clean spacecraft pro- noted. lems, the review board chief Thomas Zurbuchen. more major problems or
pulsion valves. No one The 29-month delay from urges that the project con- Zurbuchen said NASA mistakes, or extra excessive
bothered checking to 2018 to 2021 represents a tinue given its "compelling" should have been provid- testing.
see whether the cleaner $1 billion hit — not including scientific potential and na- ing better oversight and is "The complexity and risk
might damage the equip- the cost of implementing tional importance. part of the problem along cannot be overstated or
ment, said review board the board's recommenda- Webb — considered a suc- with Northrop Grumman. overestimated," he said.q
chairman Tom Young. The
Redwood grove on California coast to become public park

STEWARTS POINT, Calif. (AP) quiring a grove in Northern some taller than the Statue sprawling forest in Sonoma a lot we can't save, but we
— An environmental group California with hundreds of Liberty, and is planning County matches Muir can save this."
said Tuesday that it is ac- of ancient redwood trees, to preserve it and open a Woods' majesty. One of its The tallest of the 1,450 trees
public park. oldest trees in the grove in the grove is 313 feet (95
Save the Redwoods has a diameter of 19 feet meters), taller than the Stat-
League said it is purchasing (6 meters) — wider than a ue of Liberty, Hodder said.
the 738-acre grove, which two-lane road. The tallest at Muir Woods is
is a third larger than Muir "The unique element of 258 feet (79 meters).
Woods National Monu- this property is that it's an The land has been owned
ment and has 47 percent undisturbed ancient for- for a century by the Rich-
more old-growth trees, the est ecosystem," said Sam ardson family, whose patri-
San Francisco Chronicle re- Hodder, president of the arch, Herbert Archer Rich-
ported. Redwoods League. "This is ardson, first bought the for-
Known as Harold Richard- a special place. We want est in 1918.q
son Redwoods Reserve, the people to see it. ... There's