What Comes After James Webb and WFIRST? Four Amazing Future Space Telescopes
The Hubble Space Telescope has been in space for 28 years, producing some of the most beautiful and scientifically important images of the cosmos that humanity has ever taken. But let’s face it, Hubble is getting old, and it probably won’t be with us for too much longer.
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is in the final stages of testing, and WFIRST is waiting in the wings. You’ll be glad to know there are even more space telescopes in the works, a set of four powerful instruments in design right now, which will be part of the next Decadal Survey, and helping to answer the most fundamental questions about the cosmos.
Watch the video here:
And in case you missed it, here's my live QA with radio astronomer Dr. Nicole Gugliucci:
Comments (2)
Why is it so difficult to get a semi-accurate budget and timeline for future telescopes. It’s not like we’ve never built one before. Is it just gamesmanship among the scientists? (We’ll tell Congress $2B even though we know it’ll take $10B. Once we get going they won’t stop us). Or is there a legitimate reason for the high over budgets?
It really depends on the amount of uncertainty in the project. In the case of James Webb, there were several brand new technologies rolled into the telescope, like the sunshade, folding nature, etc. So they over-reached in their planning. But also, the way the aerospace firms are rewarded is a problem too.