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TALK about getting kicked while you鈥檙e down. As NASA鈥檚 shuttle programme winds down without a replacement, some influential politicians are moving to slash the agency鈥檚 budget and kill off its next flagship astronomy mission.
The infrared James Webb Space Telescope is designed to pick up where the Hubble Space Telescope leaves off when it reaches the end of its useful life in a few years. JWST could search for oxygen and other possible signs of life in exoplanet atmospheres and peer back at the universe鈥檚 first galaxies.
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But it is billions of dollars over budget and years behind schedule. Last week, members of an appropriations committee in the House of Representatives proposed cancelling JWST in a for the agency.
The proposal would require approval by the entire House and Senate, as well as President Barack Obama, and it is already getting a chilly reception from some members of Congress. Senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland called the suggested cancellation 鈥渁 short-sighted and misguided move鈥�, and the American Astronomical Society JWST would 鈥渞evolutionise our understanding of our place in the universe, just as Hubble has done鈥�.
Astronomy is not the only area that would be affected by the proposal, which would slash NASA鈥檚 budget by $1.6 billion per year. Other vulnerable projects include the development of new space flight technologies.