Space Telescope Technology Championed
By Frank Morring . Source: Aviation Week & Space Technology .
Science is always looking ahead to the next discovery, even as it answers the questions raised by the last one. Astronomers follow this pattern perfectly, and theirs is a high-stakes game because the instruments they use to push the boundaries of human knowledge are so expensive. That is doubly so for space telescopes, as anyone who has watched the ongoing struggle over the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is acutely aware. NASA has labored mightily to maintain support for the gigantic infrared telescope in the face of cost overruns that threatened other valuable science, and schedule slips that have pushed its launch date out to 2018. So it is useful to look at the possibilities the JWST offers for the money ...
Science is always looking ahead to the next discovery, even as it answers the questions raised by the last one. Astronomers follow this pattern perfectly, and theirs is a high-stakes game because the instruments they use to push the boundaries of human knowledge are so expensive. That is doubly so for space telescopes, as anyone who has watched the ongoing struggle over the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is acutely aware. NASA has labored mightily to maintain support for the gigantic infrared telescope in the face of cost overruns that threatened other valuable science, and schedule slips that have pushed its launch date out to 2018. So it is useful to look at the possibilities the JWST offers for the money ...
