The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is expensive, large, and it was nearly canceled by the federal government.

With a price tag (News - Alert) of $8 billion, it is about three times larger than the Hubble Space Telescope. It is being designed to study distant locations in the universe in order to increase understanding of the earliest stars and galaxies, according to a report from Space.com.

Its funding for the 2012 fiscal year is in place. The 2012 appropriation for the telescope came to $529.6 million. During the summer, several members of Congress wanted to cancel the project altogether. But it came out a winner in the budget battle.

In fighting for the telescope, U.S. Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (MD-D) claimed proposed cuts threatened “the future of science research,” according to a report carried over the summer on TMCnet.

“Its cost growth created controversy in the last year and even put the mission’s survival in jeopardy before Congress, perhaps a bit grudgingly, came through with the money,” according to a report from The Space Review.

“The JWST debate may be one sign of a much bigger issue: that government willingness to fund big science projects may be waning,” the Space Review adds. In addition, the price tag of the telescope and similar large-scale projects were discussed a lot at the recent meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) held in Austin, Texas.

The next challenges for the new telescope are construction, testing and flight instruments, Space.com said. Northrop Grumman (News - Alert) Aerospace Systems was given the contract to design and develop the observatory. The mirrors on the telescope are completed. Now, efforts are focused on its sunshield and important infrared instruments, Space.com said.

The James Webb Space Telescope is expected to be launched in 2018. After getting in orbit, the Webb telescope will be about 1 million miles from the Earth.

Hardly anyone isn’t curious what information the Webb telescope may uncover. “Webb will peer through dusty clouds to see stars forming planetary systems, connecting the Milky Way to our own solar system,” according to a statement from NASA.

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