{"id":18358,"date":"2015-07-07T08:24:52","date_gmt":"2015-07-07T08:24:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/research\/astronomers-propose-a-giant-space-telescope-likely-to-cost-10-billion\/"},"modified":"2025-09-22T10:49:19","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T05:19:19","slug":"astronomers-propose-a-giant-space-telescope-likely-to-cost-10-billion","status":"publish","type":"research","link":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/astronomers-propose-a-giant-space-telescope-likely-to-cost-10-billion","title":{"rendered":"Astronomers propose a giant space telescope likely to cost $10 billion"},"content":{"rendered":"

An influential group of US astronomers have proposed the building of\u00a0the High-Definition Space Telescope (HDST), the biggest and most advanced space telescope, according to the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA)\u00a0report<\/a> published on July 6. The HDST would complement the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which will be launched in 2018 and will observe the universe at infrared wavelengths. The astronomers proposing the HDST envision the telescope to have a mirror up to 12 metres across, which is 5 times the width of the 2.4-metre Hubble Space Telescope. They believe that the HDST would be able to explore the existence of life in the universe by studying exoplanets, and answer some of the wider astrophysical questions. The HDST would probably cost $10 billion or more, and NASA might have to partner with other space agencies to turn the proposal into a reality. Alan Dressler, an astronomer at the Carnegie Observatories in Pasadena, California, who led the 1996 study that led to JWST states that advocates of the HDST \u201cmight want to consider a scaled-down version of the HDST alongside the ambitious 12-metre proposal.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more in Nature<\/a><\/em> and Science<\/a><\/em>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":33313,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false},"new_tags":[],"series":[],"subject":[2872],"class_list":["post-18358","research","type-research","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","subject-earth-and-planetary-science"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAstronomers propose a giant space telescope likely to cost $10 billion | Editage Insights<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"An influential group of US astronomers have proposed the building of\u00a0the High-Definition Space Telescope (HDST), the biggest and most advanced space telescope, according to the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA)\u00a0report published on July 6. The HDST would complement the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which will be launched in 2018 and will observe the universe at infrared wavelengths. Read on to learn more about this.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/astronomers-propose-a-giant-space-telescope-likely-to-cost-10-billion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Astronomers propose a giant space telescope likely to cost $10 billion | Editage Insights\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An influential group of US astronomers have proposed the building of\u00a0the High-Definition Space Telescope (HDST), the biggest and most advanced space telescope, according to the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA)\u00a0report published on July 6. The HDST would complement the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which will be launched in 2018 and will observe the universe at infrared wavelengths. Read on to learn more about this.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/astronomers-propose-a-giant-space-telescope-likely-to-cost-10-billion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Editage Insights\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Editage\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-22T05:19:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/editage-insights-generic-banner.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"870\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"446\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Editage\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/astronomers-propose-a-giant-space-telescope-likely-to-cost-10-billion\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/astronomers-propose-a-giant-space-telescope-likely-to-cost-10-billion\",\"name\":\"Astronomers propose a giant space telescope likely to cost $10 billion | Editage Insights\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/astronomers-propose-a-giant-space-telescope-likely-to-cost-10-billion#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/astronomers-propose-a-giant-space-telescope-likely-to-cost-10-billion#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/editage-insights-generic-banner_298.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-07-07T08:24:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-22T05:19:19+00:00\",\"description\":\"An influential group of US astronomers have proposed the building of\u00a0the High-Definition Space Telescope (HDST), the biggest and most advanced space telescope, according to the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA)\u00a0report published on July 6. The HDST would complement the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which will be launched in 2018 and will observe the universe at infrared wavelengths. Read on to learn more about this.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/astronomers-propose-a-giant-space-telescope-likely-to-cost-10-billion#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/astronomers-propose-a-giant-space-telescope-likely-to-cost-10-billion\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/astronomers-propose-a-giant-space-telescope-likely-to-cost-10-billion#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/editage-insights-generic-banner_298.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/editage-insights-generic-banner_298.webp\",\"width\":656,\"height\":336},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/astronomers-propose-a-giant-space-telescope-likely-to-cost-10-billion#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Researchs\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/research\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Astronomers propose a giant space telescope likely to cost $10 billion\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/\",\"name\":\"Editage Insights\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Editage Insights\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/editage-insights-logo-1-scaled.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/editage-insights-logo-1-scaled.webp\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":324,\"caption\":\"Editage Insights\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Editage\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/Editage\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Astronomers propose a giant space telescope likely to cost $10 billion | Editage Insights","description":"An influential group of US astronomers have proposed the building of\u00a0the High-Definition Space Telescope (HDST), the biggest and most advanced space telescope, according to the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA)\u00a0report published on July 6. The HDST would complement the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which will be launched in 2018 and will observe the universe at infrared wavelengths. Read on to learn more about this.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/astronomers-propose-a-giant-space-telescope-likely-to-cost-10-billion","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Astronomers propose a giant space telescope likely to cost $10 billion | Editage Insights","og_description":"An influential group of US astronomers have proposed the building of\u00a0the High-Definition Space Telescope (HDST), the biggest and most advanced space telescope, according to the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA)\u00a0report published on July 6. The HDST would complement the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which will be launched in 2018 and will observe the universe at infrared wavelengths. Read on to learn more about this.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/astronomers-propose-a-giant-space-telescope-likely-to-cost-10-billion","og_site_name":"Editage Insights","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Editage","article_modified_time":"2025-09-22T05:19:19+00:00","og_image":[{"width":870,"height":446,"url":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/editage-insights-generic-banner.png","type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@Editage","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/astronomers-propose-a-giant-space-telescope-likely-to-cost-10-billion","url":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/astronomers-propose-a-giant-space-telescope-likely-to-cost-10-billion","name":"Astronomers propose a giant space telescope likely to cost $10 billion | Editage Insights","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/astronomers-propose-a-giant-space-telescope-likely-to-cost-10-billion#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/astronomers-propose-a-giant-space-telescope-likely-to-cost-10-billion#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/editage-insights-generic-banner_298.webp","datePublished":"2015-07-07T08:24:52+00:00","dateModified":"2025-09-22T05:19:19+00:00","description":"An influential group of US astronomers have proposed the building of\u00a0the High-Definition Space Telescope (HDST), the biggest and most advanced space telescope, according to the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA)\u00a0report published on July 6. The HDST would complement the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which will be launched in 2018 and will observe the universe at infrared wavelengths. Read on to learn more about this.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/astronomers-propose-a-giant-space-telescope-likely-to-cost-10-billion#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/astronomers-propose-a-giant-space-telescope-likely-to-cost-10-billion"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/astronomers-propose-a-giant-space-telescope-likely-to-cost-10-billion#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/editage-insights-generic-banner_298.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/editage-insights-generic-banner_298.webp","width":656,"height":336},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/astronomers-propose-a-giant-space-telescope-likely-to-cost-10-billion#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Researchs","item":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/research"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Astronomers propose a giant space telescope likely to cost $10 billion"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/","name":"Editage Insights","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#organization","name":"Editage Insights","url":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/editage-insights-logo-1-scaled.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/editage-insights-logo-1-scaled.webp","width":2560,"height":324,"caption":"Editage Insights"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Editage","https:\/\/x.com\/Editage"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research\/18358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/research"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research\/18358\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"new_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/new_tags?post=18358"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=18358"},{"taxonomy":"subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/subject?post=18358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}