NASA Expected to Further Delay Its James Webb Space Telescope

By Andy Pasztor

NASA on Tuesday is expected to announce a delay of several months or longer for the James Webb Space Telescope, the agency's premier space-science program that has been beset by schedule slips and cost overruns, according to people familiar with the details.

The latest setback, these people said, reflects the need for additional testing, verification and integration checks of the multibillion dollar project extending beyond the previously announced June 2019 launch date.

The new deadline is anticipated to be no earlier than late 2019. National Aeronautics and Space Administration officials and senior managers at Northrop Grumman Corp., prime contractor for part of the space telescope, have discussed a delay potentially stretching even into the first quarter of 2020, according to one of these people.

Such a move is bound to boost the program's total cost above the $8.8 billon limit previously established by lawmakers, but the probable size of the increase has been closely held by managers and isn't clear. Congress must be notified of any schedule or cost changes.

NASA has called a media briefing for Tuesday with outgoing acting administrator Robert Lightfoot and two other high-ranking agency officials to provide an update.

The high-profile program is the largest international scientific effort in U.S. history that doesn't involve astronauts, and it is the most advanced space telescope ever developed.

A NASA spokesman didn't have an immediate comment. A Northrop Grumman spokesman said the company "remains steadfast in its commitment to NASA and ensuring successful integration, launch and deployment," but declined to elaborate.

Tuesday's developments, however, follow a U.S. Government Accountability Office report last month projecting likely schedule and cost slippage. That study concluded, among other things, that NASA had a history of overstating workforce reductions; that management decisions had eroded much of the program's funding cushions; and that the agency still confronted stiff technical challenges. At the time, the GAO also said certain "work continues to take longer than planned."

GAO auditors found that project managers had "used all remaining schedule reserve -- or extra time set aside in the schedule in the event of delays or unforeseen risks -- to address technical issues," including problems detected during vibration testing.

Initially, the project carried a price tag of around $1.6 billion and was supposed to begin operation in 2011

Last year, NASA pushed scheduled blastoff of the massive telescope from October 2018 to a launch window between March and June 2019, primarily as a result of delays integrating components.

Months before, NASA administrator Charles Bolden told reporters the space telescope was "an incredibly difficult program to manage." He said "it almost didn't happen" due to a cascade of previous problems.

Just two weeks ago, NASA issued an upbeat statement indicating work was progressing well and that the agency had experienced "great success" in demonstrating readiness for launch.

But during a NASA advisory committee meeting last week, the agency telegraphed further delays were anticipated in the wake of an independent schedule review.

As part of the fiscal 2018 omnibus spending bill that lawmakers passed last week, the program received the full $533.7 million requested by the White House. But as in past spending packages, Congress directed NASA to notify it of any cost increase.

Slated for launch by a European Ariane rocket, the telescope is the most sophisticated -- and expensive -- space observatory ever conceived, featuring a 21.3-foot-wide primary mirror made up of 18 adjustable gold-coated segments. The design, much larger than its predecessor Hubble Space Telescope, is intended to capture infrared light behind a complex sunshade that unfurls to the size of a tennis court. NASA aims to use the next-generation platform to find new planets and cosmic structures and to better understand formation of distant stars, galaxies and the universe itself.

Unlike Hubble, which operated in orbit relatively close to the earth and was able to be repeatedly repaired and serviced by astronauts, the James Webb telescope is bound for a location some one million miles away. It won't be accessible to any astronauts, which accounts for the extensive testing regime. Its mirrors have to be precisely polished and formed so they will achieve and maintain the correct shape in the frigid space environment.

Write to Andy Pasztor at andy.pasztor@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 27, 2018 09:18 ET (13:18 GMT)

Northrop Grumman (NYSE:NOC)
Graphique Historique de l'Action
De Juin 2024 à Juil 2024