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After the James Webb: The Next Big Telescope
And other news from the week in space and physics
Just over a month from now the James Webb Space Telescope will head skyward, unfurl its giant mirror and begin scanning the cosmos in unprecedented detail. That moment, if all goes according to plan, will be a triumph for American astronomy: the result of decades of work and billions of dollars, all leading to a new understanding of our universe.
Still, the James Webb has come at a high price. Its huge budgets and shifting deadlines ate up funds which astronomers could have directed elsewhere. Much of American astronomy is now on the edge of crisis — a state of affairs shown most dramatically by the collapse of Arecibo last year. The launch of the James Webb could, then, be a chance to rethink priorities; an opportunity to spread funds to long forsaken fields.
The release of an important new report this week — the Decadal Survey — shows that astronomers are indeed hoping to do that. It recommends building three new great observatories in space, fully funding two massive telescopes on the ground and paying to upgrade existing facilities.
Conscious, however, that recent astronomical projects have badly overshot their budgets, the report suggests a new way to manage big, expensive telescopes. More effort, it says…
