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An ambitious $1.6 billion spacecraft that would investigate the
mysterious force that is apparently accelerating the expansion of the
universe — and search out planets around other stars, to boot — might
have to be postponed for a decade, NASA
says, because of cost overruns and mismanagement on a separate project,
the James Webb Space Telescope. The news has dismayed many American
astronomers, who worry they will wind up playing second fiddle to their
European counterparts in what they say is the deepest mystery in the
universe. Read More |