Posted: Tue, Aug 23, 2011, 6:56 AM ET (1056 GMT)
A new study has concluded that the total cost of the troubled James Webb Space Telescope, facing potential cancellation in Congress, will be $8.7 billion. The new cost estimate includes all costs for building and launching the telescope as well as for the first five years of science observations. That study also estimates a 2018 launch date for JWST. NASA will provide its plan for paying the increased cost, $3.6 billion over the agency's previous estimate, in its 2013 budget proposal. However, House appropriators declined to provide funding for JWST in its 2012 budget for NASA. That bill has not been approved by the full House, and the Senate has yet to start work on its NASA budget.

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