In Exactly A Year Our Knowledge Of The Cosmos Will Change Forever. This Is The $10 Billion Reason
In Exactly A Year Our Knowledge Of The Cosmos Will Change Forever. This Is The $10 Billion Reason
In precisely one year—on Tuesday, March 30, 2021—the almost US$10 billion James Webb Space Telescope (JWST or “Webb” for short) will launch on a European Ariane 5 rocket from the Guiana Space Centre to the northwest of Kourou in French Guiana.
The successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, “Webb” will study the solar system, directly image exoplanets, photograph the first galaxies, and explore the mysteries of the origins of the Universe. By detecting infrared light, Webb will be able to look further back in time than any other telescope thus far.
Webb is the most ambitious and complex space science telescope ever constructed, and tantalisingly soon it will the plaything of scientists … or, at least, that’s the plan.
It’s highly possible. Originally conceived in the 1990s and at first expected to launch in 2007, Webb has been beset by delays—the latest being COVID-19—but at the time of writing the massive telescope was safely in its cleanroom at Northrop Grumman in Redondo Beach, California, and March 30, 2020 was still the target date for Webb’s launch. However, there could be an announcement on April 15, 2020about a new schedule.
For now, let’s presume we only have a year left to exist in the pre-Webb era, and get excited about what we’re going to learn about life, the Universe and everything in 2021 and beyond.
Comments
Post a Comment