curious rumour about JWST and the Senate: supposedly major testing of JWST integration is being moved to Johnson Space Center and Marshall is also pickingup some significant system integration action
don't know enough history to know if this is an actual change in plans, nor can I confirm it at this stage
interesting bit of politicking if true, now we have to see if it does the trick
PS: haven't seen full Senate appropriations bill - think they only released the summary, but, $500M is cut from NASA and the Senate Launch System is funded - so what was cut?
Also NSF and NIST are cut to get total appropriations in line - but what?
- Log in to post comments
More like this
Congress is moving on 2012 appropriations, and the Science agency "minibus" bill has reported out of conference...
So, fiscal 2012 started last month, and funding is currently under a short term "continuing resolution" through friday.
Three of the appropriation bills the House and Senate had…
House subcommittee on Science etc has reported out and full committee is scheduled to vote on the 13th.
JWST cut is formally in as are various other interesting snippets.
The subcommittee report (pdf large) - ie the appropriations by agency recommended to the full committee
Summary Table (pdf) -…
I haven't spent much time in that den of iniquity, DC, lately
but... third hand rumours percolate back to me, and if I can't sleep, neither should you
a few weeks ago, a commenter said something to the effect that "NASA would do nothing until JWST was out of the way" - I thought at the time it was…
As everybody knows, there is one thing you must never do before launch, and that is name it.
Total jinx.
Not of course that we are superstitious, that'd be silly.
Some of us just cringed when the Next Generation Space Telescope was given a proper name by an over keen administrator while still in…
I don't think Congress is under any obligation to spell out the details of NASA's budget. They provide a bottom-line number and a set of requirements ("including $500m for JWST construction and systems integration and testing..." or "...with no money for JWST beyond that necessary for program termination", e.g.).
The Administrator is then responsible for working within the constraints of the budget + directives. If it's not possible he can go back to Congress and testify....
In short, full support for JWST ain't free. In the absence of increased overall budget (need I say, not in the cards) the pain will be shared widely.
-Derek
Major testing of JWST has *always* been planned for JSC. The Chamber A vacuum chamber there is the only tank that large enough and accessible to the spacecraft. That's where all the vac and cold tests of the integrated structure are going to happen. I think the chamber at GRC is a bit larger, but there are issues in getting the spacecraft there.
As it is, Chamber A is going to be the hub of the JWST I&T effort. If they're moving a few other things there, so what?
@Heinrich - you are right, found the old JWST newsletters and the "FAQ for scientists" - JSC integrated test has been scheduled for a several years, and Marshall segment tests started last year.
Maybe they just had to prompt the TX and AL delegations on this minor detail.