- Costs imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic could pile up to $3 billion for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
- The full cost may be even higher as the pandemic continues to bear down.
- Here’s a quick look at NASA’s projects that have been the most significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
As the coronavirus pandemic spread across the globe in 2020, many organisations were forced to shut down offices, send their employees home and figure out how to manage day-to-day operations within a hybrid work model. And the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was no exception.
Its most
recent audit estimates that the delays and disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic could end up costing the apex space entity up to $3 billion.
However, the cost could be even higher as the pandemic draws out. “NASA will not be able to quantify the complete impact of the pandemic on its programmes and projects until after the COVID-19 emergency has subsided,” it wrote in its report.
The audit reveals that few activities continued unhindered, a moderate amount proceeded at a reduced level because of limited access to facilities but a significant number of activities were essentially suspended with NASA shutting 12 of its 18 major facilities.
From NISAR to VIPER to the James Webb Telescope, here’s a list of NASA projects that took the biggest hit: