Posted on 07/27/2018 3:59:09 PM PDT by LibWhacker
The space agency has always coughed up the extra cash, but some politicians wonder if the contractor responsible for major errors should pitch in.
If everything had gone according to plan, the most powerful space telescope would be in orbit right now, perched about 1 million miles from Earth, peering deep into the universe, and returning home mesmerizing photos of glittering stars and galaxies.
Instead, it’s still in a factory in California, waiting to receive more money so engineers can finish building it.
The James Webb Space Telescope, NASA’s next big astronomy mission, has been in the works for two decades. When the concept was first proposed in 1996 as the successor to the famed Hubble Space Telescope, scientists estimated it would cost $500 million and fly by 2007. But as scientists worked on the telescope’s design, the world around them began to change. Astronomers were making exhilarating discoveries about the cosmos, and engineers were inventing the technology needed to study them. Webb’s stewards believed the telescope could do more than originally envisioned, so they expanded its parameters.
As the years passed and the scope of the mission swelled, so did the cost. By the start of this year, Webb had a price tag of $8.8 billion and a launch date of spring 2019. Most of the telescope—its gold-plated mirrors and scientific instruments—had been completed and tested. But there was trouble with the tennis-court-sized shield that’s supposed to protect it from the heat of the sun, and with the spacecraft that will house the observatory’s various systems. It was enough trouble that last month, NASA officials made a disappointing announcement: Webb would be delayed, again, this time to spring 2021. And it’s would be even more expensive.
(Excerpt) Read more at theatlantic.com ...
Obama, Bush and Clinton destroyed our defense contractors' effectveness.
Allowing a consolidation which resulted in only three major defense contractors also reduced competitiveness.
The "work" done on it was not continuous, for one thing.
Can't remember the lack of lack of gravity compensation when the mirror was "built" and "tested" in Earth's gravity.
Had Congress not changed the original specs
Wasn’t it President Reagan that said an elephant was a mouse built to govt. specs?
Moving right along...
You mean like the F35 fighter aircraft?
And the requirements were all hammered out using the waterfall method which is a very right management implementation style. Has anyone tried the Agile method recently?
This happens because they know that once a project is being funded, it is easier to modify it to many times the original cost than it is to scrap it and replace it with a new project....ran into this crap a LOT when developing courses for NSA...idiots kept demanding unnecessary integration so even programming a switch (maybe done once every 3-6 months) could be done from main consoles instead of via the console developed specifically for programming the switch....they kept crying, "Gotta stay cutting edge" and I kept telling them that if they didn't pick a point and finish, they would be chasing that cutting edge after Jesus returned....and never have an operational suite.....I wasn't their favorite person at any of the meetings...
I would be happy if the products specified were still readily available at the time of execution.
Yup. But NASA is notorious for change orders and the contractors rape us taxpayers on them.
The reason why we and other “aliens” cannot contact each other is because of cost overruns.....
That’s the other half of the equation.
NO CHANGE ORDERS> PERIOD. It should bed written into law for all government contracts- NO change orders, no delays, to exactly balance the absolutly enforced obligation of any and all contractors to deliver.
Some things should be absolute and unchanging; any contract for design, building or implementation should be so on both sides.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.