I saw the Deep Sky IMAX at the Air & Space Museum a while back, which is all about the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).
Space is cool, but what really struck me was how much of a shot in the dark the whole endeavor was. Billions of dollars were spent, scores of people from multiple countries worked on the telescope for decades - literally decades - without knowing whether it would work.
There were more than 300 single points of failure associated with the launch (meaning things that, if they went wrong, would cause the entire system to stop working).
And yet, it did work. The images that are coming back are beyond beautiful and scientifically-meaningful. (Here are the most recent ones of Uranus under "latest images.")
Hearing about projects like this inspires me to think about the big picture. What possibilities exist when we vision beyond this year or 5 years from now? What dreams are big enough for a lifetime?
I don't have answers at the moment, but I'm reminded of the power in asking "what if we...?"
Take care,
Camille
