Is the James Webb Space Telescope Worth the Price?

By Ava Qin '25

“All these galaxies and you still can’t find a gf”, a user tweeted jokingly about NASA's trending post of the deepest ever infrared image taken of the universe. Ever since last summer, photos of beautiful galaxies have been reposted and shared everywhere on social media. These images are captured using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST or Webb), an engineering marvel of the United States—but also a burden for the people. The telescope that produced these pretty pictures of the galaxy cost 10 billion dollars of taxpayer money. So what is the technology of this telescope, and does it justify the exceedingly steep cost of this piece of equipment?

The Webb is NASA’s largest and most powerful space science telescope. It was created with the goal of discovering the earliest galaxies to emerge in the early cosmos, and seeing stars developing planetary systems. It orbits the Sun, about one million miles away from us. It is an infrared telescope that has an approximately 6.5 meter, or 21 feet, primary mirror which is coated with pure gold. The Webb launched successfully on January 24, 2022 (Davis & Carney, n.d.).

    The Webb carried scientific passion and curiosity for the universe and thrusted it into orbit with success. So far, the first set of images revealed five breathtaking photographs of the cosmos, most notably, the Carina Nebula and the SMACS 0723. The Carina Nebula, also called the Cosmic Cliffs with its traits of sparkling “mountains” and “valleys” reveals for the first time previously invisible areas of star birth. The SMACS 0723 is the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe known to date, featuring thousands of galaxies that we can now see (Dunbar, n.d.). This image was also tweeted by Joe Biden and announced in public during a White House event on Monday, July 11 (Dunbar, n.d.)

However, many only view this telescope as a tool that takes pretty pictures, and not worth ten billion taxpayer dollars. After all, the price of this instrument is ten times that of the Mona Lisa. If you're not into art, consider the cost of about 50,000 Lamborghinis (Shostak, 2022). With all the problems in the world today, surely someone might make a valid case that we shouldn't spend such a large amount of money only to add fresh drawings to college textbooks or to decorate the sides of city buses. It’s not that new astronomical knowledge will directly improve the lives of our kids and grandkids; but it will improve our comprehension and navigation of the mysterious, uncertain world. When Nicolaus Copernicus finally rejected the 2,000-year-old concept that the Earth was the center of the solar system in 1543, the level of living in Poland did not instantly improve (Shostak, 2022). Yet, Copernicus' discovery proved something profoundly philosophical: humans, as unique as they are, occupy an inconspicuous speck of dirt and dust in the cosmos (Shostak, 2022). Our location is mundane, and it's possible that our skills are as well. We have a good reason to be modest. While it may feel like only science nerds are benefiting from this invention, it’s worth our time to all be curious and accept the beauty and wonders of ambiguity. 

This is really well-written and interesting, I left a few comments on things that could use a bit of clarification. Other than that, I think that this is great. 

Thanks!

References:

Davis, P., & Carney, S. (n.d.). In Depth | James Webb Space Telescope. NASA Solar System Exploration. Retrieved March 24, 2023, from https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/james-webb-space-telescope/in-depth/

Dunbar, B. (Ed.). (n.d.). First Images from the James Webb Space Telescope. NASA. Retrieved March 25, 2023, from https://www.nasa.gov/webbfirstimages

Shostak, S. (2022, July 18). Why the power of the James Webb telescope photos can't be measured in dollars. Retrieved March 25, 2023, from https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/james-webb-space-telescope-cost-nasa-billions-pictures-are-rcna38813