Put March 30, 2021, on your calendar. That's when NASA now plans to launch its much-delayed James Webb Space Telescope.
An independent review board established by the space agency says the new launch date is realistic _ as long as no additional problems arise.
If the review board's recommendations are "rigorously implemented," then NASA has a "very high probability" of sticking with its revised launch schedule, Tom Young, who chaired the board, said Wednesday.
This latest delay will add roughly $837 million to the telescope's cost, bringing the total price tag for development to $8.8 billion, said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate.
The total life cycle cost, which includes Webb's first five years of operation, is now set at $9.66 billion, Zurbuchen added.
Webb is seen as the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope and is NASA's top science priority. It will look way back in time to the origin of the universe in an effort to understand how the galaxies, stars and planets came to be.
It also will search for exoplanets in orbit around other stars that may be hospitable to life and help scientists "answer questions like, 'Are we alone in the universe?'" said John Mather, the mission's senior project scientist based at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
Webb was originally scheduled to launch in 2007, but a series of mistakes and scientific challenges have forced multiple delays and budget increases. Most recently, it had been scheduled to launch in May 2020.
Zurbuchen emphasized that the telescope is the most ambitious thing NASA has tried to build, and the team behind it has overcome significant hurdles to get to this point.
"We have to get this right on the ground before we go into space," he said. "Webb is worth the wait."
