NASA says it’s ready to build $8.8 billion super space telescope

[unhappycamper]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/02/03/nasa-says-its-ready-to-build-8-8-billion-super-space-telescope/



NASA says it’s ready to build $8.8 billion super space telescope
By Agence France-Presse
Monday, February 3, 2014 17:44 EST

All the pieces of the most powerful space telescope ever are ready for assembly at NASA, the US space agency said Monday.

The $8.8 billion James Webb Space Telescope is scheduled for launch in 2018 and aims to provide an unprecedented look at far-away planets and the first galaxies formed.

A successor to the Hubble Space Telescope launched in 1990, it is a joint project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.

All 18 of its primary mirror segments and four science instruments are now housed at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center facilities in suburban Maryland.

[Victor_c3]

1. I wonder what the resolving power will be compared to the new generation ground based telescopes

being built around the world around the $1 billion mark.

As a wannabe amateur astronomer, I'm very excited about this instrument.

[tridim]

2. Can't wait!

I hope NASA doesn't decide to suppress results like they just did with the "like nothing we've ever seen before" jelly donut on Mars.

[Thor_MN]

3. I seriously hope the mirrors were ground to the correct shape.

I remember reading an article (I think Discovery magazine) about the Hubble mirror before it was sent up. About the "tea cup" fracture that was cut out due to the possibility it could propagate, but was found later to have completely annealed. They likened it to a "beauty mark" on the face of a model. A small hole cut out of one of, if not the, most precise objects ever made. When they silvered the mirror, they got an unexpected bonus on the wavelengths it reflected. It was better than they had hoped for. They decided not to spend the money to do final testing before assembly.

Of course, it wound up costing much more money to deliver corrective optics to orbit to deal with the fact that they had most exquisitely ground the mirror to the wrong shape. It was within atoms of being a perfectly smooth surface... of the wrong shape to focus correctly.

Spend the money to guarantee that first light reveals a stunning image, not a "we can still do science with this".

[Victor_c3]

4. I would like to think that they learned a valuable lesson from that Hubble fiasco n/t

[Thor_MN]

5. I really hope so, but fear the anti-science conservatives.

They will do nearly anything to hamstring knowledge.

[Victor_c3]

6. Lots of information at link below about the Webb telescope

[url]http://jwst.nasa.gov/mirrors.html[/url]

[Ratty]

7. Kinda sad it's an infrared telescope

Yeah I know, it can see through dust better and makes the most sense but I fear the pictures just won't be as pretty. Forget science, I want pretty pictures!

[WovenGems]

8. You will get them

It will be kinda like a paint by numbers set of pictures.