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<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=2>New York Times 6 July</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=2>Panel Proposes Killing Webb Space Telescope<BR>By
DENNIS OVERBYE</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=2> The House Appropriations Committee proposed
Wednesday to kill the James Webb Space Telescope, the crown jewel of NASA’s
astronomy plans for the next two decades. </FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=2> The telescope, named after a former
administrator of NASA, is the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, and it
was designed to study the first stars and galaxies that emerged in the first
hundred million years or so after the Big Bang. </FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=2> It was supposed to be launched in 2014, but NASA
said last year that the project would require at least an additional $1.6
billion and several more years to finish, because of mismanagement.
</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=2> Just last week, NASA announced that it had
finished polishing all the segments of the telescope’s mirror, which is 6.5
meters in diameter, but the agency has still not announced a new plan for
testing and launching the telescope. </FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=2> The announcement of the telescope’s potential
demise came as part of a draft budget for NASA and other agencies, including the
Commerce and Justice Departments. In all, the committee proposed lopping $1.6
billion off NASA’s current budget, which is $18.4 billion for 2011. The Obama
administration had originally requested $18.7 billion for NASA.
</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=2> Astronomers reacted with immediate dismay,
fearing that the death of the Webb telescope could have the same dire impact on
American astronomy that killing the Superconducting Supercollider, a giant
particle accelerator in Texas, did in 1993 for American physics, sending
leadership abroad. </FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=2> Canceling the Webb telescope would “have a
profound impact on astrophysics far into the future, threatening U.S. leadership
in space science,” said Matt Mountain, director of the Space Telescope Science
Institute in Baltimore, which would run the new telescope. “This is particularly
disappointing at a time when the nation is struggling to inspire students to
take up science and engineering,” he added. </FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=2> Tod R. Lauer, an astronomer at the National
Optical Astronomy Observatory in Tucson, echoed his view. “This would be an
unmitigated disaster for cosmology,” he said. “After two decades of pushing the
Hubble to its limits, which has revolutionized astronomy, the next step would be
to pack up and give up. The Hubble is just good enough to see what we’re missing
at the start of time.” </FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=2> The Webb telescope, he said, “would bring it
home in full living color.” </FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=2> The Appropriation Committee’s proposal was the
opening act in what is likely to be a long political drama, in which the Senate
will eventually have a say. The measure is expected to be approved Thursday by
the subcommittee in charge of NASA and the other agencies, according to Jennifer
Hing, a spokeswoman for the committee. </FONT></STRONG></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV><STRONG><FONT size=2> Next Wednesday the full Appropriations Committee
will meet again to consider the final bill.</FONT></STRONG></DIV></BODY></HTML>