Too Much; Not Enough

On Starts With a Bang, Ethan Siegel investigates the hamstringing of the James Webb Space Telescope. Originally scheduled to launch in 2013 at a cost of $5.1 billion, the JWST was pushed to 2015 and $6.5 billion by a government review panel that faulted NASA mismanagement. But the revised numbers counted on timely infusions of cash, and because "a miserly US Congress" withheld them, the cost of the project ballooned to $8.7 billion, with a new launch date of 2018. Although its unprecedented mirrors are nearly finished—along with its electrical instruments and their housing—the JWST still waits on its massive sunshield, which means the project will stay grounded even as its price tag gets more astronomical. [UPDATE: funding for the JWST has been restored!] Meanwhile, on Uncertain Principles, Chad Orzel imagines an ark defined by qubits instead of cubits. God decrees, "thou shalt take into thine ark all of the numbers," to which Noah astutely replies, "if the ark is to be 300 by 50 by 30 qubits, then the maximum number to be stored within it must be no greater than 2⁴⁵⁰⁰⁰⁰." The supreme being asks if this is not close enough to infinity—and threatens to start smiting things when Noah suggests including more than just positive integers.

• How the US Government Chose to Ruin the James Webb Space Telescope, and Blamed NASA on Starts With a Bang!
• This Week's Reading in the Church of the Larger Hilbert Space on Uncertain Principles
• News Flash: James Webb Space Telescope SAVED! on Starts With a Bang!