The James Webb Space Telescope left Earth for its Sun-Earth Lagrange point two orbit on Christmas 2021 atop of Arianespace's Ariane 5 rocket. After a six-month trip to its orbit, unfolding the telescope, and testing its systems, the James Webb Telescope released its first images on the 12th of July 2022. Since then the telescopes teams at NASA have continued to release stunning images and provided a wealth of new scientific discoveries from the Telescope.
In a press release for the celebration of a year of science from James Webb, Nicola Fox, NASA's associate administrator of Science Mission Directorate in Washington, said;
“On its first anniversary, the James Webb Space Telescope has already delivered upon its promise to unfold the universe, gifting humanity with a breathtaking treasure trove of images and science that will last for decades,” “An engineering marvel built by the world’s leading scientists and engineers, Webb has given us a more intricate understanding of galaxies, stars, and the atmospheres of planets outside of our solar system than ever before, laying the groundwork for NASA to lead the world in a new era of scientific discovery and the search for habitable worlds.”
NASA's associate director for research in the Astrophysics Division at NASA Headquarters Eric Smith said the following about the James Webb Telescope;
“Webb’s first year of science has not only taught us new things about our universe, but it has revealed the capabilities of the telescope to be greater than our expectations, meaning future discoveries will be even more amazing.”
NASA currently has plans to use the James Webb Space Telescope for ten years, but due to the accuracy of the Ariane 5, is expected to last twenty years before running out of propellant to keep it in Sun-Earth Lagrange point two.
A 10 Billion dollar Observatory
The James Webb Space Telescope started development in the late 1990s with an original budget of $1 billion over ten years for construction with a planned launch in 2007. After nearly a decade of development, the estimated project cost in 2008 for the Preliminary Design Review had increased to $5 billion with a new planned launch in 2014. In 2011 the United States House of Representatives appropriations committee on Commerce, Justice, and Science moved to try and cancel the telescope but instead capped additional funding to complete the project at $8 billion. By the time of its launch at the end of 2021, the total cost of the telescope was $9.7 billion with €700 million from the European Space Agency and CA$200 million from the Canadian Space Agency in contributions to the telescope.
The next year of Science
NASA and its partners are aiming for a second year of incredible scientific discoveries. Webb Senior Project Scientist Jane Rigby of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center said the following about the next year of science;
“We've selected an ambitious set of observations for year two — that builds on everything we've learned so far. Webb's science mission is just getting started — there's so much more to come."