If you think the James Webb Space Telescope is exactly the kind of cutting-edge science the US government needs to support, here’s a page where you can add your authenticated signature to an open letter to Save the James Webb Space Telescope from the depredations of the anti-science right wing.

Dear Senators & Representatives,

On July 6, 2011, the Republican majority of the Commerce Justice Science (CJS) subcommittee of the Appropriations committee released its priorities for the FY2012 funding cycle and announced that they would be zeroing out, or cutting entirely, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) program. The next day, the CJS committee approved the markup in an essentially unchanged form.�

We, the undersigned, call on responsible members of Congress to reverse this poor decision that contradicts recognized experts in the field and support American scientific research.

The cancellation of the JWST would be a major blow to both American scientific prestige the development of human knowledge, as the last two Decadal Surveys of experts in the field have called the JWST the most important project for astronomy of the 2000s and 2010s. �If this cancellation passes, basically Congress will be saying:

1) to the science community: It doesn’t matter how you want your money spent; we know what blue sky research is important better than you do.

2) to the public: We hope you enjoyed seeing all those Hubble images:
en.wikipedia.org…
en.wikipedia.org…
There won’t be any more pictures.

3) to the world: We no longer want to lead scientific research.

4) to parents/teachers: If you want to inspire the next generation to be interested in science, you will have to show them things we used to do instead of things we are doing.

5) to the taxpayer: In the name of spending less money we will specifically target a program already under way to cause money already spent to become wasted.

This isn’t about deficit reduction or whether or not to cut NASA’s budget or asking if you’re willing to spend a $1 putting the most awesome telescope ever designed into orbit, this is about whether or not Congress should specifically cut the ‘Number 1’ astronomy project of two decades, a project more visible to the American taxpayer than most of NASA’s other research, while funding many others that cutting would not result in the downsides enumerated above.

Granted, the program is significantly overbudget and delayed, as the Republican majority tersely noted when canceling the project. However, with the JWST nearly complete, canceling it now is an incredibly poor decision that does nothing to make up for the problems of the past or to reclaim money already invested in the future.�
You can track the progress through the Appropriations process here: thomas.loc.gov…

As you can see by the blank spaces for CJS, we are in the very first step of the long process, but I encourage all JWST supporters to stay engaged throughout the entire process.

Join me in opposing the cancellation of the James Webb Space Telescope.

I close with the words of Kevin Marvel, Executive Officer of the American Astronomical Society:

“Obviously, this proposal from the House Appropriations Subcommittee for CJS is upsetting. The astronomy community knows the value of the JWST, recognizes that nearly all technical hurdles have been overcome and that a review of the program’s management, budget and completion plan is nearly complete. It is important to remember that the release of the House versions of the appropriations bills is just the first step in the lengthy appropriations process. For now, this termination is a proposal and one we should take seriously with the knowledge that making a few communications now to legislators will not be the end of a process, but merely the beginning. The outrage and upset the community is experiencing cannot be merely today or this week, we must ration our energy to effectively participate throughout the whole appropriations process.”

Sincerely yours,

Craig Montuori
Registered voter in Mountain View, California