NASA administrator Mike Griffin introduced a new term to the budgetary lexicon yesterday: “undercosting”. Speaking at the American Astronomical Society (AAS) conference in Washington DC yesterday, Griffin responded to a question about the cost overruns on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) by saying that “I have characterized it as an undercosting.” The remark generated laughter in the audience that packed the ballroom of the Wardman Park Marriott, but Griffin was serious, noting that two independent committees found that previous cost estimates for the space telescope were about $1.5 billion too low. “So if two independent committees look at it and say that they really haven’t screwed up but that the amount of money allocated to the mission was a billion and a half low, then I would refer to that as an undercosting, not an overrun.” Griffin said he was now more confident in the cost of the JWST, but added, “I would never characterize any large aerospace project as being immune from overruns.”
