The James Webb Telescope, the largest science project in US government history
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Re: The James Webb Telescope, the largest science project in US government history
#2Isn't the largest science project in US the Superconducting Super Collider? Yes, it was cancelled, but JWST was almost cancelled as well.
Re: The James Webb Telescope, the largest science project in US government history
#3"Putting an astronomical telescope in space was a natural solution, and it followed directly—and, according to some, very directly—from the spy satellite program."
Can anyone expand upon this? I know the NRO has recently donated some of its old gear to NASA, but is there much cross-pollination between the space-operating agencies?
Re: The James Webb Telescope, the largest science project in US government history
#4Isn't the largest science project in US the Superconducting Super Collider? Yes, it was cancelled, but JWST was almost cancelled as well.
I'm not sure what you are trying to reason. X was cancelled but Y was almost cancelled. That makes no sense.
According to Wikipedia, $2.2 billion was spent on the SSC before it was cancelled in 1993.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superconducting_Super_Collid...
It's unfortunate that it was never completed, it was going to be bigger than the LHC. Everything we are learning now could have been learned a generation ago.
Re: The James Webb Telescope, the largest science project in US government history
#5"Putting an astronomical telescope in space was a natural solution, and it followed directly—and, according to some, very directly—from the spy satellite program." Can anyone expand upon this? I know the NRO has recently donated some of its old gear to NASA, but is there much cross-pollination between the space-operating agencies?
Putting spy satellites in space presented many challenges and lessons that could be directly transferred...
- Building, Launching and Orbiting very sophisticated sensitive sensors, lenses, elements and equipment into space.
- Developing compression algorithms and comand and control protocols.
- Calibrating readings against known ground-based objects
There were, of course, self-destruction and counter-intelligence measures that probably won't be needed...
Re: The James Webb Telescope, the largest science project in US government history
#6"Putting an astronomical telescope in space was a natural solution, and it followed directly—and, according to some, very directly—from the spy satellite program." Can anyone expand upon this? I know the NRO has recently donated some of its old gear to NASA, but is there much cross-pollination between the space-operating agencies?
According to many, hubble was a either a repurposed keyhole satellite, or was developed as a cover for a new generation of spy satellites. Rumour has it there are literally dozens of HST equivalents in orbit, but only one of them points away from earth.
Here's a source which makes this rather clearer - if this wasn't the case, why would the NRO happen to have two hubble-spec telescopes just sat around? http://www.planetary.org/blogs/guest-blogs/jason-davis/nasa-...
Re: The James Webb Telescope, the largest science project in US government history
#7Nice article, but the diagram halfway down that shows the EM spectrum.... I'm scratching my head over why "Audio" is apparently now electromagnetism.
Re: The James Webb Telescope, the largest science project in US government history
#8Nice article, but the diagram halfway down that shows the EM spectrum.... I'm scratching my head over why "Audio" is apparently now electromagnetism.
I was thinking exactly the same thing. Did my professors skip over something in the electromagic classes?
Re: The James Webb Telescope, the largest science project in US government history
#9Isn't the largest science project in US the Superconducting Super Collider? Yes, it was cancelled, but JWST was almost cancelled as well.
Adjusted for inflation, the Manhattan project cost nearly US$ 2 billion in 1940s money, or about $26 billion in 2016 dollars says https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan_Project .
Re: The James Webb Telescope, the largest science project in US government history
#10Isn't the largest science project in US the Superconducting Super Collider? Yes, it was cancelled, but JWST was almost cancelled as well.
I'd wager on Apollo. $25.4 billion in 1973, adjusted to $109 billion in 2010 dollars.