James Webb Space Telescope, information, updates and discussion Options

[Redstone]

The manufacture of the JWST mirror blanks has now been completed.

Despite this milestone, the fate of JWST is still somewhat precarious, because although the scientific bang from the telescope is expected to be huge, the bucks required have increased to a staggering $4.5 billion. A Space.com article on the squeeze in NASA's space-based astronomy plans gives some background.

The JWST home page can be found here.

The Space Telescope Science Institute, which runs Hubble, also has a site here. As does ESA.

[Holder of the Tw...]

One more (hopefully final) launch delay. No one thing in particular, just a lot of little things adding up. They claim there will be no cost penalties as a result.

Early 2019 launch

[JRehling]

And that last delay was not final. Now we're hoping for an early 2020 launch.

Damage suffered during testing is at least some of the cause.

This article lays out the facts and adds some insightful commentary on how this delay might affect future planning.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/...ronomy-suffers/


From the standpoint of exoplanet observations, I will add that the ability of the JWST to observe exoplanets, and if so, to what extent, inevitably will be known in detail only after it attempts such observations. It also closes the gap between when JWST was going to make such observations and when new ground based telescopes will be able to demonstrate their capabilities for similar, but not identical observations. Of course, the dates when those telescopes will become operational aren't guaranteed yet, either.