(Image credit: ESA/NASA/STSCI) The first light machine The new telescope will peer deeper into the most ancient universe. The science it is meant to deliver, the depths of space it is intended to glimpse, simply cannot be accomplished with a spacecraft that astronauts can visit (at least not with currently available spaceships).Ī comparison of a Hubble Space Telescope image and a simulated James Webb Space Telescope image. The fact is that serviceability was never an option for Webb. Because we've spent two decades building and testing every single piece a million ways to do everything to make sure it doesn't have problems.'īut why does Webb have to be so complex? Wouldn't a simpler mission work just as well? And why cannot it be serviced by astronauts?

'James Webb Space Telescope is a prototype and with prototypes, you can always have something that goes wrong,' Mark McCaughrean, senior advisor for science and exploration at the European Space Agency (ESA) and interdisciplinary scientist at the JWST science working group, told.

With the James Webb Space Telescope, rescue missions are impossible and therefore no failures are allowed. Hubble received 'glasses' to correct its short-sightedness and turned into the astronomical powerhouse that has since generated thousands of iconic and scientifically priceless images. A rescue mission involving a team of astronauts was sent to fix the problem.

The problem was traced to the telescope's great mirror, which was improperly polished during manufacturing. The images it sent to Earth were disappointing, blurry, nowhere near to what scientists had expected. When the Hubble Space Telescope launched in 1990, it soon became obvious something was amiss. The fault required an emergency crewed rescue mission. The James Webb Space Telescope's predecessor, the Hubble Space Telescope was infamously launched with an improperly polished mirror.

Hard Wired by Jebb A. Rebal