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Space & Planetary Science

More Cost Overruns and Delays for Webb

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
November 10, 2010
Filed under ,

James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Independent Comprehensive Review Panel (ICRP) Final Report
“The earliest launch date possible–and hence the minimum cost to complete–is September 2015 and would require an additional ~$250 million above the current FY 2011 President’s Budget profile in both 2011 and 2012. In addition, the critical management change noted above, along with the restructuring of the JWST Project office, supplemented by additional changes outlined in the report, must go “hand-in-hand” with additional funding.
In the time available, it was not possible to do an independent estimate of the cost-to-complete. As such, the Panel approached the question from several different points of view as described later in this report, leading to a judgment that the total LCC will be in the range of $6.2 billion to $6.8 billion.”

Letter from Independent Comprehensive Review Panel to Charles Bolden regarding The James Webb Space Telescope
“In summary, the Panel concluded that the JWST Project is in very good technical shape. There is no reason to question the technical integrity of the design or of the team’s ability to deliver a quality product to orbit. The problems causing cost growth and schedule delays have been associated with budgeting and program management, not technical performance.”
NASA Administrator Bolden Statement On The Webb Telescope
“I appreciate the work done by the James Webb Space Telescope’s (JWST) Independent Comprehensive Review Panel (ICRP), and want to thank Sen. Barbara Mikulski for initiating this review. The ICRP report makes clear that, while JWST technical performance has been consistent with the project plan, the cost performance and coordination have been lacking, and I agree with these findings.”

NASA Watch founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.