Funding Drought Jeopardizes Future NASA Astronomy Missions

by Denise Chow, SPACE.com Staff Writer

Date: 16 January 2012 Time: 09:45 AM ET

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NASA engineer Ernie Wright looks on as the first six flight-ready James Webb Space Telescope's primary mirror segments are prepped for final cryogenic testing at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. CREDIT: NASA/MSFC/David Higginbotham View full size image

AUSTIN, Texas — With NASA operating on an increasingly tight budget, the agency's ability to launch future large astronomy missions is at risk, scientists said. And this quandary has no simple solution.
Astronomy missions that fall under NASA's flagship program are big, expensive endeavors that aim to answer sophisticated questions about the solar system, galaxy and universe we live in. Flagship missions currently operating include the Hubble Space Telescope and the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and NASA's next big space telescope — the $8.8 billion James Webb Space Telescope launching in 2018 — narrowly avoided escaped losing funding last year.

MORE: http://www.space.com/14241-nasa-budget-endangers-astronomy-missions-aas219.html

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