One of the most innate and unanswered questions we have is where do we come from? How did this all start? We can never fully answer this confounding question, however, a brand new project by NASA may help to give us new details about the origin of our universe. They will do this with the revolutionary James Webb Space Telescope.
The James Webb Telescope is set to launch in 2018 in order to replace the famous Hubble Telescope, which will be decommissioned in 2014. The James Webb Telescope can outpreform the Hubble because of incredible advancements in its cameras and instrumentation. This telescope is equipped with state of the art infrared spectograms and fine detailed camera which can peer through dusty clouds of space debris in order to see the far reaches of the univers and witness stars creating planetary systems. This will give us so much more information on the actual conception of our solar system as well as an understanding of the conditions and factors that allowed our planet and galaxy to form as they did.
What makes the James Webb even more impressive, is its efficient and durabke design. Rather than supplying extra cooled oxygen to the instrumentation to keep them from overheating, the telescope will just be sent out deeper into space which will supply the cooling agent necessary to keep preformance up. This saves on the fuel required to get the telescope up into space because there is no longer a need to sent it up with heavy oxygen gas tanks. Also the James Webb is equipped with far more durable solar shields to proect the mirrors on the telescope from the harsh photon collisions emitted by the sun. This will allow the James Webb to stay in space longer than the Hubble and keep the images taken from distorting in any way. Although some have lost faith in space exploration, many still thirst for knowledge and are not detered by the enormous funds pumped into this project. The knowledge gained has a value compared to no other. This will change our understanding of the beginning and perhaps help us to foresee the future.
Resources
http://news.cnet.com/2300-11386_3-10013463.html
http://webbtelescope.org/webb_telescope/science_on_the_edge/