What is the James Webb Telescope?
The James Webb Space Telescope is a space telescope that has been working since 2002 and was sent off on December 24, 2021. NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency jointly carry out the work.
This telescope, which will add a lot to cosmology and rewrite human history, will start its mission very soon. The first name ascribed to this idea, which was put forward in 1980, was the Hubble Space Telescope. Afterwards, it was attributed to astrophysicist James Webb, who took part in many space studies, especially the telescope Apollo project, which is one of the most important space projects of recent times. James Webb served as NASA administrator from 1961-1968.
What Does the James Webb Space Telescope Do?
The issue of how many meters the telescope mirror will be has been among the topics discussed for years. As a result of the constantly changing drafts between 4-11 meters, it was finally decided on 6.5 meters. If this mirror, which is gold-plated and will obtain images using infrared rays, is broken, the whole project will be thrown away, so it is one of the issues that is emphasized a lot. The satellite is located at a distance of one and a half million kilometers from the earth.
The James Webb Space Telescope is among the prominent projects with its cost. The reason why this project has been put so much emphasis on is that it will add a lot to the history of humanity.
Thanks to this satellite, information about exoplanets will be obtained and signs of life will be searched. Another and most important task of the satellite is that it will give us information up to 13.5 billion years ago, that is, it will time travel to the past. This satellite, which will provide concrete evidence to mankind, who cannot go beyond theories about world history, will start its mission in about six months. In order to clarify religious issues, a total of twenty-six clergy from various religions are working in the project.
James Webb Space Telescope History and Features
According to this idea, planned by NASA in 1980, the telescope would start its mission in an average of ten years. However, the political problems of the period, financial inadequacies, disagreements within the group, etc. Due to the problems, a concrete start could not be achieved in these periods.
This idea, which has been widely discussed by scientists because it is a challenging project that has not been done before, was first analyzed by a board in 1989 and a report was prepared. In this report, issues such as the size of the satellite, when the James Webb satellite will be launched, and in which region it will be located were discussed.
Another issue that has been discussed and which has caused the project to be postponed is the fact that serious investments would not be made in a project of uncertain certainty. So much so that the planned fund for this project was worth one billion dollars. This funding, which is a large enough amount to cause other space projects to stall, has caused some science builders to refer to the project as the "Sunk Cost Bullshit". The launch date of the satellite was constantly postponed, as scientists took care not to have any roughness in the project. This satellite, which was first programmed in 2007, could be launched fifteen years after this date.