Webb Telescope questioned - Drawback for space exploration?

The US House Appropriations Committee has made a recommendation to cancel the James Webb Telescope. That should make everyone remotely interested in space discoveries listen attentively. The recommendation alone is of course no final decision. But it is a warning shot to set priorities for science and research.
The United States might be in a miserable budgetary position. But this telescope, the main achievement for space exploration for the next decade and perhaps even further, is not even the tip of the iceberg and definitely the wrong asset to start with. Let us all hope this is not going through, otherwise mankind will suffer from a huge deficit of knowledge and remarkable discoveries for years!

The article featured at New York Times:

Panel Proposes Killing Webb Space Telescope
Published: July 6, 2011 - by Dennis Overbye

The House Appropriations Committee proposed Wednesday to kill the James Webb Space Telescope, the crown jewel of NASA’s astronomy plans for the next two decades.

The telescope, named after a former administrator of NASA, is the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, and it was designed to study the first stars and galaxies that emerged in the first hundred million years or so after the Big Bang.

Current Hubble telescope compared to the now almost finished Webb telescope. Source: Wikipedia

It was supposed to be launched in 2014, but NASA said last year that the project would require at least an additional $1.6 billion and several more years to finish, because of mismanagement.

Just last week, NASA announced that it had finished polishing all the segments of the telescope’s mirror, which is 6.5 meters in diameter, but the agency has still not announced a new plan for testing and launching the telescope.

The announcement of the telescope’s potential demise came as part of a draft budget for NASA and other agencies, including the Commerce and Justice Departments. In all, the committee proposed lopping $1.6 billion off NASA’s current budget, which is $18.4 billion for 2011. The Obama administration had originally requested $18.7 billion for NASA.

Astronomers reacted with immediate dismay, fearing that the death of the Webb telescope could have the same dire impact on American astronomy that killing the Superconducting Supercollider, a giant particle accelerator in Texas, did in 1993 for American physics, sending leadership abroad.

Canceling the Webb telescope would “have a profound impact on astrophysics far into the future, threatening U.S. leadership in space science,” said Matt Mountain, director of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, which would run the new telescope. “This is particularly disappointing at a time when the nation is struggling to inspire students to take up science and engineering,” he added.

Tod R. Lauer, an astronomer at the National Optical Astronomy Observatory in Tucson, echoed his view. “This would be an unmitigated disaster for cosmology,” he said. “After two decades of pushing the Hubble to its limits, which has revolutionized astronomy, the next step would be to pack up and give up. The Hubble is just good enough to see what we’re missing at the start of time.”

The Webb telescope, he said, “would bring it home in full living color.”

The Appropriation Committee’s proposal was the opening act in what is likely to be a long political drama, in which the Senate will eventually have a say. The measure is expected to be approved Thursday by the subcommittee in charge of NASA and the other agencies, according to Jennifer Hing, a spokeswoman for the committee.

Next Wednesday the full Appropriations Committee will meet again to consider the final bill.

Source: nytimes.com

Obama calls for technological breakthrough at NASA

After being stuck in low-earth orbit for decades, the American president now demands new technological approaches to get us to Mars.

The article:

Obama: NASA Needs a Technological Breakthrough

Date: 06 July 2011 Time: 05:17 PM ET SPACE.com Staff

Answering a question in a Twitter town hall meeting today, President Obama suggested spaceflight is stuck in the Apollo-era mode and said NASA needs a technological breakthrough to allow faster, longer spaceflight with a goal of getting astronauts to Mars.


The President answers a tweeted question on space policy - CREDIT: whitehouse.gov


"Frankly I have been pushing NASA to revamp its vision," Obama said. "The shuttle did some extraordinary work in low orbit: experiments, the International Space Station, moving cargo. It was an extraordinary accomplishment and we're very proud of the work that it did. But now what we need is that next technological breakthrough. [Video: See Obama's Full Comments]

"We’re still using the same models for space travel that we used with the Apollo program, 30, 40 years ago. And so what we've said is: Rather than keep on doing the same thing, let's invest in basic research around new technologies that can get us places faster, allow human spaceflight to last longer. And what you're seeing now is NASA, I think, redefining its mission.

"We've set a goal: Let's ultimately get to Mars," the president said while fielding questions from Twitter users about the economy and other subjects. "A good pit stop is an asteroid." He joked that a specific asteroid has not been chosen.

Obama was clear in alluding to what some critics have said: NASA's human spaceflight program has been stuck flying circles around Earth for decades. [What Obama and Congress Should Do for Spaceflight and Exploration]
"Let's start stretching the boundaries so we’re not doing the same thing over and over again," he said. "Rather, let’s start thinking about what’s the next horizon? What’s the next frontier out there? But in order to do that, we’re actually going to need some technological breakthroughs that we don't have yet."

The president did not dismiss low-Earth orbit efforts, but put that responsibility on the shoulders of private enterprise. Let the private sector handle routine tasks of sending vehicles into Earth orbit, he said.

And he mentioned how that could, in time, lead to space tourism:
"We may be able to achieve a point in time where — those of you who are just dying to go into space — you can buy a ticket and a private carrier can potentially take you up there while the government focuses on the big breakthroughs that require much more larger investments and involve much greater risk."


Source: space.com