The History And Future Of The James Webb Space Telescope

On March 30, 2021, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope will blast off from the European Space Agency’s European spaceport in Kourou, French Giana on board an Ariane 5 rocket.

It’ll fly to the Sun-Earth L2 Lagrange point, a relatively stable spot in space that keeps the glare from the Sun, Earth, and Moon all in a tiny spot in the sky. Then, it’ll unfurl its tennis court-sized sunshade, fold out its gigantic 6.5-meter mirror, and peer out into the distant cosmos.

Over the course of the next 10 years, this infrared observatory will help astronomers learn about the earliest moments of the Universe, directly observe the atmospheres of planets orbiting other stars, and peer at newly forming stars and planets.

And if you listened to the words I just said with equal parts terror and skepticism, I don’t blame you. James Webb’s path to space has been long and tortuous. And the risks that the mission still faces are very real. Hopefully, the science will be worth it. Hopefully, nothing else goes wrong from now until deployment.

So today, I want to do a deep dive into James Webb. To talk about the history of the mission, why it exists, how the development went, and where it stands today.

I’ll warn you though, the length of this video is going to go way over budget.

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[AlaskanBallistics]

I'll believe March 2021 when I see it

[babyUFO.]

Every time you mention JWST it's delayed another month.

[z-beeblebrox]

The longer this takes, the more and more I hope they built a backup because WHEW BOY if that rocket blows up....

[Unique_Racing]

Man I’ll be pissed if it doesn’t work once it’s in space 😂

[hermestrismegistus]

I’d rather we spend all this money on Webb instead of nuclear weapons

[supercomputer]

Can't wait for them to delay the 2045 launch.

[rJaune]

I can't wait till we see something that we had no idea existed before. This is going to be great!

[woody]

Absolutely brilliant, Fraser. I've been so excited for JWST for such a long time and the excitement is growing stronger the closer we get. I'm so nervous about it all going well, fingers crossed.
Thank you.

[antonleimbach]

I don’t care how much it costs. Seeing early galaxies is going to be truly amazing.

[AndreRousseauMtl]

Wonderful summary! Thank you for that!
Minor typo @ 9:11: Near Infrared minimal temp should be 872 F instead of -828

[NeonVisual]

By the time it's built we'll have the launch capacity to make much of the unfurling process just an added complication.

[NickPoeschek]

I am nervous about all the things that could go wrong, but then again I thought the idea of landing a car-sized, nuclear powered rover via a bizarre sky crane contraption was pure insanity and that worked amazingly well.

[jamesgordon]

I just pray I live long enough to see the results of it...

[bradleyrwerner]

I've been paying taxes in America for 24 years and am often disturbed by the war, waste, and fraud I help fund. But things like this keep me hopeful, proud, and patriotic.

[Youtubintheuser]

James Webb is the most expensive ground-based telescope I’ve ever seen.

[jamesaltonfilms]

What telescopes did you mention as after WEBB around 19:55? Sounds like "Louviore" and "Haddox" but my spelling is so off that Google didn't know what I was talking about... help please!

[BackToSpace]

I've been waiting for this so long I can hardly remember a time when I wasn't waiting for it!

[MrPig]

The James Webb will ALWAYS be the telescope of the future.

[steveba]

Thanks for this summary and update Fraser ive been looking for this information

[The_SOB_II]

I can’t wait for this telescope holy crab boiling biscuit mans