In 1946, American theoretical astrophysicistLyman Spitzer, "father of Hubble" proposed to put a telescope in space.[1][2] Spitzer's proposal called for a large telescope that would not be hindered by Earth's atmosphere. After lobbying in the 1960s and 70s for such a system to be built, Spitzer's vision ultimately materialized into theHubble Space Telescope, which was launched on April 24, 1990, by theSpace ShuttleDiscovery (STS-31).[3] This was launched due to many efforts by Nancy Grace Roman, "mother of Hubble", who was the first Chief of Astronomy and first female executive at NASA.[4] She was a program scientist that worked to convince NASA, Congress, and others that Hubble was "very well worth doing".[5]
Space telescopes are much more expensive to build than ground-based telescopes. Due to their location, space telescopes are also extremely difficult to maintain. The Hubble Space Telescope was serviced by theSpace Shuttle, but most space telescopes cannot be serviced at all.
Satellites have been launched and operated byNASA,ISRO,ESA,CNSA,JAXA and theSoviet space program (later succeeded byRoscosmos of Russia). As of 2022, many space observatories have already completed their missions, while others continue operating on extended time. However, the future availability of space telescopes and observatories depends on timely and sufficient funding. While future space observatories are planned by NASA, JAXA and theCNSA, scientists fear that there would be gaps in coverage that would not be covered immediately by future projects and this would affect research in fundamental science.[7]
On 16 January 2023, NASA announced preliminary considerations of several future space telescope programs, including the Great Observatory Technology Maturation Program,Habitable Worlds Observatory, and New Great Observatories.[8][9]
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