Fourteen years of delays and billions of dollars in cost increases for NASA's James Webb Space Telescope have already cost the contractor Northrop Grumman about half of the 60 million dollars that he has spent in the United States. However, congressional leaders wondered Wednesday whether this penalty was enough for the Virginia-based company to be responsible for the success of the country's next big telescope.
These delays are "scandalous". and I really think this is just a perfect example of why the American public does not trust the federal government by spending their taxes, "said Republican Rep. Debbie Lesko, a Wisconsin Republican, at a hearing in New York. Washington, DC. should we believe that this will change in the future? "
The US House of Science, Space and Technology Committee met on Wednesday to hear NASA's plea for the re-authorization of the Webb telescope after Agency announced last month that it would need an additional 800 million dollars and until 2021 to complete the development of the telescope.This request pushes the agency to exceed the ceiling of 8 Billion dollars set by Congress in 2011, which means that the project must be reauthorized in the agency's budget for 2019.
James Webb – the successor of the Hubble Space Telescope Understanding the world of the planet and star formation – originally planned for 2007 and costing about $ 500 million.Now it should be launched in 2021 and cost nearly $ 9 billion, a difference that the US representative Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, a qu alified from "really staggering".
The new schedule and cost estimate announced in June the project by an independent review committee of 10 members, who found that human errors and other technological problems committed by Northrop Grumman – like missing sunscreens and leaks in propulsion valves caused by improper cleaning – increased telescope development costs
The board of directors made 32 separate recommendations to keep the telescope on the right track that NASA says working to implement. These recommendations include: adequate employee training, better risk assessment and the creation of a management position to oversee system deployments once in space
A Northrop Grumman representative will testify before the board The Committee Thursday
The problems of James Webb and his successor, the WFIRST, were so significant that NASA announced in June that the proposed projects in the next 10-year Astrophysical Survey of 2020 should be capped at $ 5 billion each. Webb and WFIRST have been suggested in previous surveys, which are lists of suggested missions compiled every 10 years by experts
Low Cost Contracts
Jim Bridenstine, NASA Administrator, the development of the project up to now to ensure that no other human error has occurred. He assured the committee that the agency's contract with Northrop Grumman provides other ways to hold the company accountable.
Northrop Grumman's contract for this project is a "cost plus" contract, which means that the price is the profit. The company has already lost $ 28 million out of the $ 60 million reward it could have received for reaching milestones. Bridenstine told the committee that he could lose more if the staff did not deliver.
"To get the rest of the $ 30 million available, [the company] will have to accomplish and achieve its goals," he said. "The reward is their only profit."
He added that NASA could "recover" the royalties previously granted if the company continued to screw up.
Some congressmen were not sure that was enough, NASA needs to be smarter about the entrepreneurs it hires.
"It's the biggest job I've ever seen and it's the taxpayers being fooled here," said California representative Dana Rohrabacher. "I hope we can be more realistic in our cost estimates."
Tom Young, chairman of the telescope review commission, agreed. Agencies need to understand that entrepreneurs will offer the lowest credible costs, he said, and they need to be smarter about the real costs of building things.
"Entrepreneurs will continue to offer low prices if they continue to be picked," Young said. "To change that, we must punish those who impose unrealistic costs and not grant them."
"Cannibalize Other Missions"
The 800 Million NASA's additional dollars for the Webb Bridelstine telescope said Wednesday that the agency has not really discussed where the ax will fall first.
"When we do these projects and that there are overruns and delays, this absolutely forces us to cannibalize other missions in the area. If the new NASA administrator makes his way, the agency will start with WFIRST, which was to be launched after James Webb.
He made it clear that he would terminate funding for the WFIRST telescope – a move suggested by President Donald Trump in his proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year – but would reduce James Webb's work.
"I think we need to move forward with WFIRST after James Webb," he said.
WFIRST, who would study dar k energy, exoplanets and infrared astrophysics are expected to be launched in the mid-2020s. The current cost has climbed to $ 3.9 billion, well above of the initial forecast of less than $ 2 billion.
Other programs might see cuts because of James Webb, but Bridenstine said that the agency will not need money for the problematic telescope. NASA's director of astrophysics division, Paul Hertz, said at a presentation Monday at the Astrophysics Advisory Committee of the Space Agency in Washington, DC, that the first once the agency will have to establish the budget. During those years, the agency was expecting the telescope to work and not be developing, which allowed it to allocate $ 310 million to operations.
That will require $ 490 million more for Webb in 2020 and 21 "Hertz is quoted in Space News."
"Accommodating all of this could have an impact on other parts of the astrophysics budget and perhaps even exceed astrophysics," he said. 19659021] Members of the committee are concerned that the space exploration part of the agency is affected, but Bridenstine assures them that this has not been discussed.
Wesley Bush, outgoing CEO of Northrop Grumman, will testify before the committee Thursday at 8 o'clock in the morning. The livestream can be viewed here.
Alex Stuckey covers NASA and the environment for the Houston Chronicle. You can reach her at [email protected] or Twitter.com/alexdstuckey.
