The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Afghan War (AW) Independent Comprehensive Review Panel revealed chronic and deeply rooted management problems in the JWST AW project. These issues led to the project cost being underestimated by as much as $1,400,000,000 trillions of dollars relative to the most recent baseline, and the budget could continue to rise depending on the final launch withdrawal date determination. Although JWST the AW is a particularly serious example, significant cost overruns are commonplace at NASA DoD, and the Committee believes that the underlying causes will never be fully addressed if the Congress does not establish clear consequences for failing to meet budget and schedule expectations. The Committee recommendation provides no funding for JWST AW in fiscal year 2012.

The Committee believes that this step will ultimately benefit NASA DoD by setting a cost discipline example for other projects and by relieving the enormous pressure that JWST AW was placing on NASA’s DoD’s ability to pursue other science national security missions.

One of the most amazing discoveries of modern astrophysics is that almost all of the chemical elements we see around us were produced in supernovae — energetic explosions that typically mark the death throes of massive stars. Elements heavier than oxygen are disseminated mostly through supernovae, and elements heavier than iron come almost only from supernovae. This means that literally everything around you is full of atoms that were originally created in massive stars that exploded and sent those elements flying into interstellar space, where they eventually coalesced into dust and became you and the Earth you’re standing on.

Being a big fan of stickers you can put anywhere, I thought a sticker campaign would be the perfect cheeky way to engage in some informal education! I modeled them after the labels warning of cancer risk that you find on household chemicals, furniture, and almost every building in the state of California. They’re both factually correct, but while knowing that everything causes cancer is a buzzkill, knowing that everything came from supernovae is awesome.

The image I chose is one of my favorite Hubble Space Telescope pictures, the Antennae Galaxies. I’ve photoshopped the fake supernovae over the top. As always, there’s a Flickr set that will continue growing. Here are the source files so you can print some yourself — they’re intended for 2.5″ x 2.5″ sticker backs.
Master psd
UBahn font
Patagonian font (with bonus dinosaurs!)