Really curious if $10 Billion is just what it actually costs to build this incredible machine, or if the pioneering work will mean that we can do a better job making things like it now.
Compared to, oh, let’s say, $1.6 trillion dollars…
https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/air-force-admits-f-35-...
But that’s just petty to point that out.
I too would like to see a debrief on “what went wrong”…if there is anything that really went wrong. I mean, there isn’t exactly an off-the-shelf solution for an infrared space telescope deployed to a phenomenally distant orbit. One might reasonably expect a few cost overruns, when you’re making mirrors that have no real precedence anywhere in human history.
I've already personally received way more value than that just following the "entertainment" of following along with the construction and launch. I would gladly pay that much again for a repeat endeavor.
Now that it looks like JWST will be able to perform actual science, I think we'll all get a lot more than $1.66/year of value out of it.
The entire astrophysics community suffered as a result of the ensuing suckout of resources. Lessons have been learned because a lot of careers were impacted.
There’s several successors to Webb on the horizon, and current thinking is to mature the technologies needed before such missions enter Phase A and is in effect committed to.
For a concrete reference on this, see the (very large) National Academies survey, which charts the course for NASA astrophysics over the next 10 years:
https://www.nationalacademies.org/our-work/decadal-survey-on...
A decent gloss on the above report is:
https://www.aip.org/fyi/2021/astro2020-decadal-survey-arrive...
which lays out the tech maturation plan under the “ Flagship mission maturation program” heading.
For perspective, $10 billion is like 1% of a single year budget in the US and I believe the estimate includes the entire lifetime operating cost of the instrument.
If it did in fact just "cost that much" I would probably "not be that bothered."
The next telescope being planned out is LUVOIR which be even bigger so they will still need to continue with folding mechanisms given the bigger size. They may need to eventually think of modular telescopes that are assembled in space.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_Ultraviolet_Optical_Infr...
One example is comparing the final cost to the cost of the design phase. The starting point should be after the final design had been approved.
Additionally, costs need to be inflation adjusted.
I commented on this last year.