Sage-Tips

How much did NASA spend on the Hubble telescope?

At launch, NASA had spent aproximately US$4.7 billion in inflation-adjusted 2010 dollars on the project.

How much did it cost to launch the Hubble telescope?

It took two years before shuttle flights could resume and NASA could begin planning Hubble’s launch again. The world’s first space telescope finally launched aboard space shuttle Discovery on April 24, 1990. The effort cost $1.5 billion, but there would be ongoing costs — both expected and unexpected.

How much power does the Hubble telescope use?

2,100 watts
On average, Hubble uses 2,100 watts of power, which is roughly the same as five refrigerators. However, the amount of power needed by the spacecraft varies from orbit to orbit, so the battery charge levels must be able to change as well.

Who paid for the Hubble Space Telescope?

NASA
In the 1970s NASA and the European Space Agency took up the idea and proposed a 3 metre space telescope. Funding began to flow in 1977 and it was decided to name the telescope after Edwin Powell Hubble who had discovered the expansion of the Universe in the 1920s.

How was the Hubble telescope funded?

Funding for the telescope was originally denied by the House Appropriations Subcommittee in 1975, but this prompted a large-scale lobbying effort by NASA and leading astronomers, led by Spitzer and John Bahcall, another Princeton astronomer who was also an original proponent of the telescope.

Why Hubble telescope is so expensive?

Part of the reason the telescope is so expensive is that a bunch of technologies had to be invented just to make it work, and it was hard to estimate their costs upfront. Those are the “unfolding technologies” that make this a collapsible telescope.

Why does JWST cost so much?

It was originally estimated to cost $4.96 billion and launch in 2014. But serious mismanagement and under-resourcing during critical early planning stages caused the ambitious spacecraft to fall behind schedule. After NASA restructured the project to launch in 2018 the total cost increased to $8.8 billion.

Why did Hubble cost so much?

Part of the reason the telescope is so expensive is that a bunch of technologies had to be invented just to make it work, and it was hard to estimate their costs upfront.