On 7/8/2011 12:20 AM, Val Kraut wrote:
There certainly _is_ a national rationale to have the James Webb Space
Telescope. Advancing scientific knowledge is imperative for human
survival.

How exactly does knowing what exactly the universe looked like ten
thousand years after it first came into being, or a hundred years after
it first came into being, going to help us?
You could make an argument for a really high resolution system to image
the planets, moons, and asteroids of the solar system, or image planets
orbiting nearby stars as worthwhile, but even HST has proved inferior
and obsolete to what can be seen with today's ground-based telescopes.
Things like OWL would not only beat JWST by a mile, but be far cheaper
to build, and far easier to update or do maintenance on - particularly
with the Shuttle going into retirement.

Pat