An airborne observatory developed by the United States and Germany is running 10 years behind schedule, has more than tripled in budget, and continues to have cost-control problems, according to an independent NASA audit.
The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) boasts a 2.5-metre-diameter telescope that peers out of a hole cut into the side of a 30-year-old Boeing 747 aeroplane (pictured). The partners in the project are NASA and the German Aerospace Center, or DLR.
In 1997, NASA estimated that SOFIA could start limited scientific operations by 2001 for $265 million. It now says it will cost $840 million to reach a similar point in 2011.
The 27 March audit from the NASA inspector general's office adds that SOFIA's management still cannot accurately assess the observatory's long-term costs. SOFIA's current schedule is under review, a NASA spokesman says.
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Costs for airborne telescope spiral upwards. Nature 458, 693 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/458693c
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/458693c
