25 More Years for Webb, LUVOIR and Quantum Telescopes

What’s the current state of James Webb? What were the main technical difficulties and what does the future look like? What comes after JWST and LUVOIR? Will it be possible to ever build quantum telescopes? We’ve got the answers.!

The James Webb Space Telescope is past its first 100 days of operation, so it’s time for an update from the team behind the instrument. Lee Feinberg has been the Optical Telescope Element Manager for JWST at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center for the past 20 years, so he’s the person to talk to.

Current State of James Webb

In this interview Lee and Fraser discussed the current state of Webb, what kind of scientific results should we expect and how they will be taken. Lee talked about the not-so-obvious technical challenges that the JWST team faces. What’s the real damage due to micrometeorite impacts and how is the faulty MIRI instrument doing.

But that’s not all! After that Lee and Fraser discussed what could be coming next after James Webb. What possible architectures can future telescopes have? What lessons should they learn from Webb? Which non-conventional technical concepts can be adopted for them?

Quantum Telescopes and The Future of Astronomy

Even more than that, at the end Lee and Fraser discussed mind-blowing details about Quantum Telescopes. These things will require some advanced solutions to be implemented, but the gains that astronomers can get from them can be overwhelming. The future looks very exciting!

Enjoy the interview with Lee Feinberg:

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