Final argumentative essay

Camila Diaz

Referring to one of the NASA's lastest creations, John Mace Grunsfeld,

physicist and astronaut once affirmed: "The James Webb Space telescope was

especially designed to see (...) the very first moments of the universe. And my bet?

There's going to be some big surprises." In fact, some recent visual results sent by

the telescope exemplify the broad reach it has. In the images, it is possible to see a

complement to those taken by earlier telescopes such as the Hubble or Spitzer,

resulting in a more comprehensive picture of what there is out there for us to see. For

this and other diverse reasons, I strongly believe that the James Webb telescope is

one of the most important astronomical creations at a global level in the last decade.

Among the things that stand out the most of James Webb telescope

“JWST” is the capacity of observation of space phenomenon. Being the only

telescope capable of receiving a vast number of infrared lights, an electromagnetic

radiation impossible to be seen by the human eye, this instrument is determinant for

astronomers when taking an in-depth look at the outer space. The reason behind this

is that it has the power of going farther and discover more of what is hidden behind

those giant clouds of gas and stellar dust than the Hubble or Spitzer telescopes do. It

is true that at the time of its launch out of Earth's orbit, the JWST was believed to be

the replacement for the Hubble telescope, launched about 32 years ago. However,

the images taken by the JWST complement those previously taken by the Hubble

telescope, which has been used to take images of the visible, and part of the

ultraviolet, wavelengths emanated from the universe. Therefore, already having a

broader view of what is happening in more distant sectors of the universe, the
chances of revealing the mysteries of our solar system, seeing beyond distant worlds

around other stars, and exploring the mysterious structures and origins of our

universe will significantly rise.

It is said that significant results entail great sacrifices, and the James Webb

telescope is a proof of that. In reality, the telescope had to go through several

challenges that involved unimaginable sums of time and money. Before the launch,

the situation reached to the point that the boss of the agency himself accepted that

there had been a worrying lack of coordination. To illustrate this, the project started

around the year 1996 with an estimated budget of one billion dollars and an expected

launch date of 2010. However, by 2021 and shortly before the launch, the NASA

faced an incredible budget of 10 billion dollars, and this amount kept growing. Some

people have strongly criticized and called it “The telescope that ate the astronomy”

since it devoured the resources meant for other major projects. Nevertheless, all this

huge investment is not in vain. In the last months, we have been able to observe

elements that before were a complete mystery. In fact, the James Webb has made a

revolution in terms of technology, and the new images we receive lately open more

and more questions about the universe, how it works, and even about our meaning of

life. The magnitude of these discoveries makes the value behind this project

completely worthwhile. I firmly consider that with this project, the universe will

become a living proof that maybe all that we know now is not exactly what we

believe.

Considering all of these, the James Webb Telescope is in fact one of the

biggest creations in the framework of astronomy until now due to the current benefits

it has brought and the potential information it could offer. In addition, this machine,

being one of the largest investments by NASA and one of the most economically
risky projects, will be transcendental throughout the history of the study of the

universe. Therefore, it is of great importance that society continues to think big and

take risks to reach new horizons. In this way, the human being will progressively

discover those secrets that such a vast universe has to offer us. Secrets that for now

are limited to being discovered through the large James Webb telescope lens.