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NASA is considering four proposed space telescopes and will likely launch one of them in the 2030s as a flagship mission, like the Hubble Space Telescope or the James Webb Space Telescope:
- Large Ultraviolet/Optical/Infrared Surveyor (LUVOIR), a multipurpose follow-up mission to the Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope with a 8-16 meter (26-52 foot) primary mirror that would make discoveries on exoplanets, dark matter, star formation, the earliest galaxies of the universe, and within our own solar system.
- Habitable Exoplanet Imaging Mission (HabEx), a smaller telescope than LUVOIR with a 4-8 meter (13-26 foot) primary mirror and instruments sensitive to ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared light to find worlds outside our solar system that could harbor life. HabEx could fly with a coronagraph, a component inside the telescope to mask starlight and reveal faint reflections from planets, or a starshade, a separate vehicle flying in formation with the telescope to blot out starlight.
- Origins Space Telescope, a far-infrared surveyor with a primary mirror up to 9 meters (30 feet) in diameter that would be a successor to NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and the European Space Agency's Herschel Space Observatory. The Origins Space Telescope will investigate how galaxies, stars and planets form, search for water and greenhouse gases on exoplanets, and study interstellar dust.
- The Lynx X-ray telescope, following in the footsteps of NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and ESA's XMM-Newton mission, will study the dawn of the first black holes, and the epoch of reionization, when the first galaxies and light sources emerged after the Big Bang.
The LUVOIR space telescope would be the closest to a successor of Hubble, covering a similar range of wavelengths. It is also similar in size to two recent proposals: the High Definition Space Telescope (HDST) and the Advanced Technology Large-Aperture Space Telescope (ATLAST).
The JWST was not designed to be serviceable and will likely only last for 5-10 years after its planned launch in October 2018. It has a 6.5 meter primary mirror. Hubble has been operating since 1990 but only has a 2.4 meter primary mirror.
The Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope will launch in the 2020s.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday July 24 2017, @11:30PM (1 child)
Well, if a future President wants to attempt "cutting" U.S.
defensemilitary spending, they could realign funding into programs that directly benefit NASA, health research, and other sciences. Buff up DARPA, create the Space Corps, launch more satellites (if SpaceX gets more Falcon 9/Heavy contracts, that helps them fund the ITS). Buy less aircraft carriers, F35s, F22s, but put frigging lasers on the ones you do buy.[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Absolutely.Geek on Monday July 24 2017, @11:43PM
This is all good but there are other spending targets that don't overlap with military spending; education and infrastructure are two that popped off the top of my head that could use some of a theoretical military spending cut.
If the US dropped 20% of its military budget; some could be reallocated to projects that overlap with military goals but some would not. Overall the amount of spending would not be cut; money would still flow around the US economy; jobs would be created and some would be given a more secure future.
Even at 80% of the current spend on military; the US still maintains the #1 spot at global superpower. And with appropriate allocation of funds to overlapping projects the cut may effectively be to 81 - 82%.
This is all just fluff; since it isn't going to happen. But it always amazes me that the US tax payer is happy spending so much on having such an expensive military.
Don't trust the police or the government - Shihad: My mind's sedate.