The American space agency, NASA has estimated that it requires more funding for developing the James Webb Space Telescope in time for its launch, which is scheduled for 2018.

NASA estimate shows that it will cost around $8.7 billion to finish the telescope, which is slated to operate at the Earth-Sun L2 Lagrange point for about five years. The agency says that it would've already spent $3.5 billion on the telescope in this financial year. It requires more funding for development and launch operations as well as science costs.

When finished, the telescope will include a 6.5-meter mirror with 18 individually pointed segments designed to examine planets, dust clouds and other galaxies. The telescope will use infrared wavelengths to detect red-shifted earliest objects that emerged from the "cosmic dark ages" after the Big Bang.

Phil Plait, who worked on the Hubble Space Telescope, says "JWST is a truly incredible mission. It will see farther than any telescope of its kind before. It will look at planets orbiting other stars, stars forming in nearby galaxies, and the light emitted from objects at the most distant realms of the Universe."