Science in danger: the James-Webb telescope facing drastic cuts

This is a fairly disturbing news that the team learned that supervises the James-Webb space telescope, the most sophisticated in history launched at the end of 2021 by a European rocket Ariane 5. They were asked to prepare for some 20 % budget cut on all operational aspects of this famous observer in the universe. Considered savings that would necessarily impact astronomers in search of valuable observation times.

Fewer observations of the cosmos for fewer astrophysical discoveries

Tom Brown, director of the office responsible for the webb mission at the STSCI (Space Telescope Space Institute), expressed his concerns during the 245th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Maryland, a few days before Donald Trump's return to the White House. “It's a huge cut, it's not like trying to snack on the edges”he told our colleagues Space.com.

For Tom Brown, the consequences would be felt both in the preliminary examination of observation requests by astronomers, data analysis, effectiveness of observations and resolution of anomalies when a problem occurs, as well as The commitment of the scientific community to the public about their discoveries.

The James-Webb has always had to face budgetary threats

With its cost of $ 10 billion, its many years late, the NASA telescope, responsible for spying on the universe until the dawn of its existence, has often been in delicacy with the budget of the agency . In 2011, it was even a question of its cancellation. However, today, the James-Webb, which works mainly in the infrared at a distance of 1.5 million kilometers from the earth, is an undeniable scientific success.

“Frankly, this mission works much better than most people expected it”broke Brown during the AAS annual appointment on January 15. While we are in the middle of the main mission, it is extremely worrying that we had to consider such important cuts. ”

If you want to learn more about the James-Webb, its conception and its fantastic discoveries, We have devoted a complete file to it.

NASA had requested $ 25.4 billion for its entire annual program, whether in space, Artemis missions, purely astronomical programs, etc. 317 million were planned to finance the operation of the three main space telescopes James-Webb, Hubble and Chandra. Now Hubble has already 35 years of service behind him and Chandra comes at the end of his mission.

Donald Trump and Elon Musk want to save money

Having little to do with optimism, this potential thinness cure arrives in a context of great rigor. Donald Trump named Elon Musk, SpaceX boss, head of an agency that aims to make thousands of billions of savings to the American taxpayer. Let's just be, these 20 % drop in the budget allocated to the JWST have no connection with the current administration. This is both the consequence of overly optimistic forecasts for the operational costs of the telescope in 2011 and the inflationary situation of the North American economy.