NASA Looks at Launching James Webb Space Telescope by 2018, Extends Hubble Space Telescope Contract
NASA Aims for More Discoveries of Heavenly Bodies by Launching Another Powerful Telescope
The development of the James Webb Space Telescope, the second telescope for the outer space, is currently underway. Nasa aims to launch the said telescope in 2018. Meanwhile, NASA has extended the Hubble Space Telescope's contract with the Space Telescope Science Institute for another five years at $2.03 billion.
Hundred Times Stronger than the Hubble Telescope
The James Webb Space Telescope is aimed at being 100 times stronger than the Hubble Space Telescope. It is reported to have infrared capabilities that will allow scientists to look into the very origins of our universe, observe comets and asteroids as well as examine the atmospheres of planets outside our solar system. In particular, astronomers are aiming to gain information about Planet 9, which they believe lie some 900 AU (or Earth-Sun distances away).
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"If a new planet is found, JWST will be able to fully characterize it," said Stefanie Milam, JWST deputy project scientist for planetary science at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.
Nathaniel Kahn, director of Discovery Channel's "Telescope" that monitors the current development of the telescope, believes that this discovery will allow humans to grasp a greater understanding that we are not that special in the universe and start to unify to take care of our planet.
"For thousands of years, humans have thought that we were the pinnacle of creation, we still say the sun rises in the morning and sets at night. But I hope we are entering a new era where astronomy helps us to recognize our part, which honestly is just not that special," Kahn said. "I hope, as time goes by, we are able to recognize as a global community that we are just one small planet, and if we can't get it together we're not going to last. You could see it as a scary thing, but I think it's incredibly unifying."
Hubble Space Telescope Still Capable
NASA launched the Hubble Space Telescope in 1990. The last in-flight servicing was in 2009 and its end-of-contact was expected to be on 1 July of this year until NASA confirmed its contract extension until June 30, 2021.
"The Hubble is expected to continue to provide valuable data into the 2020s, securing its place in history as an outstanding general-purpose observatory in areas ranging from our solar system to the distant universe," NASA said in a statement.
The Hubble Space Telescope has given astronomers ideas about how our planet has been formed and how a disk of gas and dust evolves into planetary bodies through images it has captured over the two decades it has revolved around the earth.
