It Is Time To Build The Monster Scope

Casey Handmer · 30 Nov 2024

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Every claim below was made in this piece, quoted word for word and numbered in the order the piece makes them, so you can read it there rather than take our word for it. The sentence above each quote is our reading of the claim, not their wording. Each quote was checked against a stored copy of the page at build time; where the two differ, the quote is the fact.

Our reading
Now that Starship flies, we should build the largest space telescope physics allows.

Their wordsWith the recent SpaceX Starship orbital flight tests, it is time to commit to building the largest physically possible space telescope.
Our reading
NASA has deferred its next great telescope so far that the people who would build it will have retired first.

Their wordsCurrent PhD students will be nearing retirement by the time these missions fly.
Our reading
A kilometre-wide telescope assembled in space out of mass-produced mirror satellites would cost about what JWST cost.

Their wordsThe same as JWST, only 150 times wider and 22000 times more sensitive.

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