NASA is working to overcome the cost growth and delays that plagued the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) for nearly a decade, but technology challenges could threaten the agency's ability to keep it on track. The $8.8 billion program led by Northrop Grumman was rebaselined in 2011 and has since adhered to its revised cost and schedule estimates for a planned launch atop an Ariane 5 ECA rocket in 2018. Ensuring the project has margin-both in terms of schedule and funding-has been fundamental to the rebaselined program. In October, NASA wrapped up the second of three key tests of an instrument suite that will fly aboard the flagship astronomy mission, which has the potential to revolutionize scientific understanding of star and planet formation and identify galaxies in the early Universe.
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