What's the Point of the James Webb Space Telescope?

[smp]

From Space.com:
"NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is (currently) scheduled to launch in March of 2021, after years of delays and billions of dollars spent over budget. While it's easy to argue that all that time and money has been wasted, this observatory will be the premiere and undisputed champion of infrared wavelengths, giving us unparalleled access to corners of the universe currently inaccessible."

https://www.space.com/nasa-james-webb-s ... -wait.html

Will it be worth the wait and expense, or has so much money been spent that we simply cannot abandon it at this point?

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[stewe]

In humanity's perpetual quest for knowledge, the JWST will be a huge leap forward, and the linked article gives a good summary as to why. Of course, launching a complex spacecraft into Solar orbit is always a risky operation, but provided that the scope survives the travel, deploys properly, and the mirror has the right shape (sorry, couldn't resist ), it will surely lead to a good number of breakthroughs in astronomy. Whether this is the right time for such a monstrous investment into this kind of knowledge, when the survival of human civilisation hangs in the balance -- well, that is a good question, and I am not sure whether the answer is an easy 'yes'. I am saying this with a PhD in astrophysics and making a living from basic research.

[Star Dad]

Let's just hope the JWST gets safely into space. My biggest fear for the project is watching the rocket blow up at/shortly after take off. It's infrared capability should allow us to see into the depths of our home galaxy. Lot of eggs in this basket.

[notFritzArgelander]

I hope it will be a scientific and technical success despite being a failure already in terms of project management.

[JayTee]

Okay, so the cost overruns are occurring up front here. Don't forget that Hubble, with the needed repair missions, have cost hundreds of millions of dollars more than the initial price tag. It's the old "pay me now or pay me later" fact of life. Also, once JWST goes into solar orbit it will essentially be inaccessible for any type of manned repair mission, at least in the near future. So I'm hoping they get it right the first time.

JT

[pakarinen]

What’s it called, “fallacy of sunken costs” or something like that? One keeps spending on a bad project just because they’ve already spent good money on it. Which is what I might be doing with my Twilight I, but anyway...

But there’s so much waste, fraud, and stupidity in govt programs that this overrun is nothing and I say let’s build two!

[Seawolfe]

The POINT of the JWT is to show you just how much money and time NASA and the US Federal government can waste and still tell you how wonderful the thing will be, give you updates on some small improvement or even movement on developing or testing a boondoggle all the while preparing you for what may be the biggest disaster of space exploration if the thing fails so that even NASA can come out smelling good and move onto the next boondoggle, Artemus.

[smp]

Here's another article from Space.com:
"James Webb Space Telescope on Track for March 2021 Launch, NASA Says"

https://www.space.com/nasa-james-webb-s ... -2020.html

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