NASA Approves Development of Universe-Studying, Planet-Finding Mission “The FY2020 Consolidated Appropriations Act funds the WFIRST program through September 2020. The FY2021 budget request proposes to terminate funding for the WFIRST mission and focus on the completion of the James Webb Space Telescope, now planned for launch in March 2021. The Administration is not ready to proceed with another multi-billion-dollar telescope until Webb has been successfully launched and deployed.” FY 2021 […]

NASA Agency Budget Fact sheet “The Budget proposes to terminate the WFIRST mission and instead focus on completing the delayed James Webb Space Telescope. The Budget also proposes to terminate two Earth science missions (PACE and CLARREO-Pathfinder).”

WFIRST Independent External Technical/Management/Cost Review (WIETR), NASA “This report responds to the questions asked in the Terms of Reference (TOR) that established the WIETR and includes recommendations and options for NASA to consider. This report is input to NASA in support of its formulation of the WFIRST implementation plan so that the mission is both 1) well understood in terms of scope and required resources (cost, funding profile, schedule) and […]

NASA Internal Memo: Next Steps for WFIRST Program “I have reviewed the findings of the independent review team and have accepted them. As a result, I believe reductions in scope and complexity are needed. I am directing the Goddard Space Flight Center to study modifying the current WFIRST design, the design that was reviewed by the WIETR, to reduce cost and complexity sufficient to have a cost estimate consistent with […]

NASA’s Dark-Energy Probe Faces Cost Crisis, Scientific American “Above all, the agency wants to keep WFIRST from following the path of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), a successor to the Hubble telescope that is scheduled to launch in 2018. That project’s cost spiralled from $1 billion in the early 2000s to $8.8 billion–and nearly exhausted NASA’s astrophysics budget. The WFIRST review is meant to stave off that kind of […]

The telescopes that came in from the cold, Nature “Some astronomers, however, are questioning whether the value of the free hardware– each NRO telescope is worth at least US$250 million– can compensate for the extra costs entailed in going from a 1.3-metre mission to a 2.4-metre mission, which will require a larger rocket and a larger camera. Although the WFIRST mission was expected to cost $1.5billion, one NASA estimate puts […]

Report Endorses NASA’s Proposed Contribution to Euclid Mission “A new National Research Council report responds to a request from NASA to evaluate this possible U.S. contribution to Euclid and concludes that the investment of approximately $20 million in hardware would be a valuable first step toward meeting the scientific goals of the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST), which is one of the top-ranked priorities recommended in New Worlds, New Horizons […]

Quest for Dark Energy May Fade to Black, NY Times “An ambitious $1.6 billion spacecraft that would investigate the mysterious force that is apparently accelerating the expansion of the universe — and search out planets around other stars, to boot — might have to be postponed for a decade, NASA says, because of cost overruns and mismanagement on a separate project, the James Webb Space Telescope. The news has dismayed […]