The phenomenal success of the James Webb Space Telescope has not just impacted astrophysics but has reminded all of us that audacious science missions undertaken by our space agencies (NASA, ESA, and the CSA) can also have considerable public impact. None of this was a foregone conclusion. The original costs of JWST were greatly underestimated, as were its technical complexity and the program management challenges. Dennis Overbye later wrote in the New York Times, “I have a confession to make: I underestimated the James Webb Space Telescope. For years, as NASA struggled to build the designated successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, I came to think of the Webb as a problem child, ever-delayed, swallowing dollars that could have gone to other telescopes and space missions… It was an infrared telescope, which would give astrophysicists a new angle on what was going on out there, but I didn’t think it could have the impact Hubble had. I was wrong” (NYTimes, 23rd August 2022). This summary for The Pontifical Academy of Sciences meeting on JWST summarizes three lessons I have learned from being with the mission since 2003, which I believe reflect JWST’s societal impact. I then posed a question at the end, which we needed more time to cover in our discussion.
1. Humility
As the figure below shows, we considerably underestimated what it would take to get JWST launched. At any one moment, after each crisis, there was a genuine belief that the costs had been estimated corrected – until we had not. Realizing and funding audacious, one-off missions like this requires considerable programmatic humility.
Surveying the recent results coming from JWST: the confirmation of the Hubble Tension, the unexpected nature of early galaxy evolution, and the difficulty of detecting the thin atmospheres of rocky planets around M-stars, the Cosmologist Joseph Silk’s wise adage rings true (which I have modified): “Humility in the face of the persistent great unknowns is perhaps the true contribution JWST has to offer”.
2. It takes a village, which, in JWST’s case, is a small town
Designing, building, commissioning, and now using JWST took, and now takes, multiple teams – multidisciplinary teams. It is now common for teams to apply for, use, and exploit JWST data and science –more so than in the Hubble era. Notably, the type of team needed today is critical for JWST-scale endeavors.
In his blog My Little Hundred Million, the author Malcolm Gladwell identified two types of teams: a “strong-linked team” where the strength of the superstar matters, as in basketball. However, our experience on JWST has demonstrated again and again that success takes a “weak-link team” (as in non-US Football) where the strength of the overall team is key, dependent on the “weakest link”. Modern science at the JWST scale is very much a weak-link team undertaking.
2. The importance of the Idea.
An estimated 20,000 people worked on JWST, and for some, this program consumed most of their professional careers: why? Why do JWST images and results inspire its creators to look to art and awe people from all walks of life? Walter Isaacson, in his book The Innovators, claims it takes “arts [to] intersect with the sciences” and “a rebellious sense of wonder” for innovation to flourish and draw people in. And a constant churning of innovation has been characteristic of the JWST endeavor. However, given the long periods of just “sheer slog” to get through endless reviews, constant testing, and continual technical and programmatic audits, simply having the opportunity to “be innovative” has not held people to JWST; it has taken something more. In talking to the engineers, programmers, technicians, program managers, and all the other people drawn to JWST and its results, the sentiment is (I believe) captured in this verse from The Fleet Foxes, “I was raised up believing I was somehow unique. Like a snowflake distinct among snowflakes, unique in each way you can see. And now, after some thinking, I’d say I’d rather be a functioning cog in some great machinery serving something beyond me”.
Constantly and consistently articulating the scientific promise of JWST, describing the role the mission will play in unraveling some of the most profound questions we have about our Universe, and committing to sharing JWST’s challenges and (finally) its results widely, has been critical to getting JWST launched and working. This story has been as essential as its science requirements, technology breakthroughs, and our various Nations’ willingness to fund such a unique project. The “idea” of JWST was the key to its resiliency and success.
Conclusion: These are personal reflections, but as Ewine van Dishoek and I discussed at the airport lounge in Rome, a key question was left unanswered, “what kind of society builds a JWST?”