Comments on: Why We Need the James Webb Space Telescope

By: Call to Action to Save JWST

Call to Action to Save JWST — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 23:06:54 +0000

[...] Why We Need the James Webb Space Telescope – Blog post by Julianne Dalcanton (July 7, 2011) explaning the issues to a public audience. [...]

By: Hubble’s successor: doomed or saved? | Space Travels - Space Turism

Hubble’s successor: doomed or saved? | Space Travels - Space Turism — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 03:34:35 +0000

[...] JWST cost overruns have been widely claimed to be from administrative mismanagement. Even if true, as Julianne Dalcanton at Cosmic Variance has eloquently argued, those errors are behind us. The components of the telescope are mostly built, being tested now, [...]

By: Neil deGrasse Tyson „We Stopped Dreaming“ : misterhonk.de

Neil deGrasse Tyson „We Stopped Dreaming“ : misterhonk.de — Sat, 20 Aug 2011 15:04:27 +0000

[...] etwas mehr zum Anfang erwähnten James Webb Space Telescope erfahren möchte, bitte hier entlang: Why We Need The Space Webb Telescope. Der Kollege im Video nach dem Klick fasst das auch nochmal ganz gut [...]

By: JAMES WEBB

JAMES WEBB — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 17:51:50 +0000

bytheway could we power the space station out there also? [no joke] this would be a logical common sense objective [ alternative] to dropping it somewhere on earth! perhaps cheaper than reentry and building the next one?

By: JAMES WEBB

JAMES WEBB — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 17:06:40 +0000

if you want to figure out FUSION to power our future you better study where it started! gitter done!

BRING IN INTERNATIONAL FUNDING, THE FUSION KNOWLEDGE WILL POWER ALL OF US FOR 1000 YRS! EASILY!!!comment 81 may save billions methods need study!

By: Dirk

Dirk — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 16:45:56 +0000

“It pains me to see that JWST is probably going to kill off any remaining credibility the astronomical community has with flagship mission development.”

Yes.

My instinct is to support the JWST but the lame arguments in this post and from the commenters turns me away. The same people (and NASA) support the space shuttle and the ISS—apparently anything in space is good, and any piece of pork can be justified so long as it is less than 1% of the federal budget. No.

By: Sandeep Deba Misra

Sandeep Deba Misra — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 06:33:11 +0000

JWST is one of the most important project in the history of not only physics, but also science. As we know, HST had created history by opening new window for us to study the whole universe. Now JWST will be further more powerful than HST. So it’ll really give us a whole new perspective to view our universe. It’s performance will be much more than that of HST. So JWST is really an important mission.
I agree that JWST is very costly & its a major problem for NASA to fund it fully anytime soon because it has to fund other missions too. But US can fund for it if it tries little bit more. Because science projects (especially space programs & particle accelerators) only take less than one tenth of a percent of world GDP!! Think of it for a moment. It is less than one tenth of a percent. Though it seems that science programs are very costly, its less than one tenth of a percent. Science programs, not only space programs, will affect our way of living. Instead of wasting money in other unimportant programs, its better to put our economy in such programs which will shape our future. To read further on why its better to put our economy in research & development, read this article – http://sandeepdmisra.wordpress.com/2011/07/05/it-would-be-fruitful-to-put-a-significant-percent-of-our-economy-in-research-development/ To read further on why space programs are so significant to us for survival, read these articles – http://sandeepdmisra.wordpress.com/2011/05/01/space-our-next-home-i/ & http://sandeepdmisra.wordpress.com/2011/05/04/space-our-next-home-ll/
Such critical conditions appear everywhere. We’ve to overcome this. And I know humanity will solve this problem. Victory to science!!
–

Warm Regards,
Sandeep Deba Misra.
Secondary School Student, Kendriya Vidyalaya Barpeta.
Founder of Quantum Time Theory.
Founder of Life-Entropy Theory.
Founder of 4 Laws Of Technological Singularity.
Author of The Blog SANDEEP’S COSMOS.
http://www.sandeepdmisra.wordpress.com.
http://www.actaphysica.com/members/sandeep/
http://www.twitter.com/sandeepdmisra.
http://www.facebook.com/sandeepdebamisra

ABOUT: Sandeep Deba Misra (29 January 1998 -) is an Indian secondary school student studying in class-VIII of Kendriya Vidyalaya, Barpeta. Sandeep is a budding astrophysicist, founder of Quantum Time Theory, founder of Life-Entropy Theory, founder of 4 Laws Of Technological Singularity, author of blog SANDEEP’S COSMOS & several other articles

By: hoot56

hoot56 — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 00:02:09 +0000

I have first-hand knowledge of how the astronomical community “let” this happen and how the costs ballooned in the first place.

First, leaders in the astronomical community went along with the ridiculous cost estimates and the waste because they felt that any bad news for JWST would jeopardize the mission and there was no way that the budget could be used to fund other missions anyway (notice that they are still saying we should save the mission because of this same logic).

I heard this sentiment over and over and over during the past 10 years of the project. Also, one of the official astronomy “watchdogs” over the mission, STScI, repeatedly told their employees to look the other way as GSFC squandered project money by having everyone and their mother charge the JWST project code in a series of endless engineering meetings on designs that were going to have to be redone by the real builders down the road (the contractors). We were told, “this is the way great missions get built, if you can’t stand to see sausage get made, then go do something else.” This reminds me of the bankers who were handcuffed in the perp-walk on TV, explaining, “Well, everybody was doing this, so it must be ok.”

By: Nachrichten von Weltraum-Teleskopen kompakt « Skyweek Zwei Punkt Null

Nachrichten von Weltraum-Teleskopen kompakt « Skyweek Zwei Punkt Null — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 21:18:14 +0000

[...] der JWST-Befürworter – die argumentieren, ohne den großen Infrarotsatelliten stießen bald weite Bereiche der Astronomie an ihre Grenzen, und auf die zu 75% mehr oder weniger fertige Hardware wie die gerade fertig geschliffenen Segmente [...]

By: decrease the such and increase the awesome « sandgestein

decrease the such and increase the awesome « sandgestein — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 17:13:13 +0000

[...] Why We Need the James Webb Space Telescope – Cosmic Variance [...]

By: Daniel de França MTd2

Daniel de França MTd2 — Sat, 16 Jul 2011 01:32:53 +0000

Dear Julianne,

Couldn’t the launch of JWST be made in stages? Like this:

1. Lauch JWST to Low Earth Orbit.
2. Dock it to ISS and make the mirrors disassemble, supervised by technicians.
3. Install an ion propulsion engine and send it slowly to its destination. Unlike the time when JWST started being projected, propulsion methods that use Ions are very well developed and reliable. For example, Dawn probe is arriving today at Vesta without any problems with its propulsion during its 4 year travel!

Wouldn’t these 3 steps save a lot of years of testing and make JWST ready to launch in less than 2 years and thereby saving a lot of money and making almost 100% sure that it wold work?

Best,

Daniel.

By: James Webb Space Telescope Closer to the Axe

James Webb Space Telescope Closer to the Axe — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 13:41:42 +0000

[...] scientific returns on the JWST would be incalculable; but to politicians, science takes a distant second to budget cutting and political points [...]

By: Jimmo

Jimmo — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 03:54:48 +0000

Although I support such a project for future generations to benefit, and I would like to see it to fruition but,where do we draw the line on waste? Obviously, more realistic costs should have been projected! Maybe a lesson will be learned here? This is such an exciting program, but I hope we can pick-up later with better management. It is sad to know we cannot afford all programs.

By: jplengr

jplengr — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 00:47:40 +0000

I think we should continue the effort and launch it. The amount of money is a trivial percentage of our national budget. Mankind MUST always climb the mountain because it’s there. We elevate (no pun intended) ourselves by this characteristic. To not complete it is to stop in mid-climb and return to the jungle below.

By: James Webb Space Telescope Closer to the Axe : Discovery News « Ye Olde Soapbox

Thu, 14 Jul 2011 15:19:16 +0000

[...] scientific returns on the JWST would be incalculable; but to politicians, science takes a distant second to budget cutting and political points [...]

By: Graham

Graham — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 01:21:19 +0000

These are hard times and clearly somethings will have to go but if you sacrifice science and advancing human knowledge you are in fact sacrificing your future. Who can say what discoveries will be made that will have major impacts on future genertions?

This period in US space exploration is seeing a decline with the consignment of the shuttle to the museums and the US having to totally rely on other countries to both ferry crew and supplies to the ISS. This is frankly embarassing. Now we hear that the JWST is to be cancelled, cancelled because the US has run out of money? But the truth is that the money has gone to prop up a badly managed banking system and to pay bonuses to over paid (gambling) bankers.

The difference between spendng the money on the JWST and the banking system is that one is investment in the future while the other is paying for mistakes in the past. There is nothing new to be learned by spending billions of dollars on the disfunctional banking system but a huge amount can be learned from the JWST. Spending billions on failed banks will not inspire the young to study and discover the new science that will lead to the next generation of technology from which new jobs could be created. Spending the money on the JWST will inspire the young and stimulate education, something badly lacking now in the US.

Given that the JWST will benefit the whole world, as Hubble has done, then perhaps the additional cost to complete the project should be shared by Europe, Russia, China, Japan, India …etc… worth asking anyway.

By: Don’t Cancel the Webb Telescope! | Of Particular Significance

Don’t Cancel the Webb Telescope! | Of Particular Significance — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 21:32:04 +0000

[...] this telescope nearly as well as my astronomy colleagues, so please read what they have to say. Here is a post by my former colleague at the University of Washington, Julianne [...]

By: Neil Degrasse Tyson On Whats Next For The Space Program

Neil Degrasse Tyson On Whats Next For The Space Program — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 17:05:01 +0000

[...] Why We Need the James Webb Space Telescope – DISCOVER [...]

By: Астрономия за неделю. 4 — 10 июля 2011

Астрономия за неделю. 4 — 10 июля 2011 — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 16:39:09 +0000

[...] — жалуется автор блога Cosmic Variance в статье «Почему нам нужен космический телескоп им. Джеймса Уэб…. Космические миссии НАСА на шкале времени. «Хаббл» вне [...]

By: Nick

Nick — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 14:20:19 +0000

> First and foremost, in many fields of astronomy we are rapidly approaching the limit of what can be done scientifically without JWST.

Wrong. Examples
JWST can’t do what WISE did: an all-sky IR survey.
JWST can’t do all-sky astrometry.
JWST can’t do interferometry.

On another note, by 2018 launch date JWST detectors will be obsolete.

Yet another angle: since JWST is one-of-a-kind, no backup or immediate successo planned, what are we going to do if something vitally important would break on JWST in 2020?