Who are you in this vast multiverse?
If you've ever dreamed of uncovering the answers to the biggest questions about the vast and
mysterious universe, there's only one telescope worthy of being the successor to the James Webb.
A really crazy machine, considered as the most ambitious, most complex, most expensive,
and most revolutionary. It's called the Large UV Optical Infrared Surveyor.
Now, what are we waiting for? Let's begin today's content.
Let's begin by taking a look three decades ago to better understand how people,
step by step, wrapped their minds around the mystique of space.
NASA's Hubble for the past 32 years has truly showcased for us what a cutting-edge,
space-based observatory is capable of. In many ways, Hubble represents the greatest
astronomical endeavor ever undertaken by our civilization, but it's also fundamentally
limited. Hubble can't observe at wavelengths longer than about 2 microns because it gets
heated by the sun. The inside of Hubble is too warm to observe at mid- and far-infrared wavelengths.
Hubble's other major limitation is its narrow field of view. Hubble can only see an estimated
10% of the galaxies that are out there. Most of them are some combination of too small and
too faint. The James Webb, however, which is larger, cooler, and can work with much
longer wavelengths than Hubble, has launched to space on the 25th of December in 2021,
and it marked an important step forward in the human exploration of the universe.
It will reveal an enormous suite of science details that Hubble cannot.
From the earliest stars and farthest galaxies to details about planet formation and the
atmospheric composition of the closest Earth-like planets, the reason is it can
observe wavelengths out to around 30 microns. With its enormous sunshade, its onboard active
coolant, James Webb will surpass Hubble on many fronts. However, even with Webb,
most of the galaxies in the universe will remain elusive. That is to say,
most of the galaxies that we do see will still, unfortunately, simply be a few pixels across,
with barely any discernible structure. And perhaps most importantly, they won't have
the ultimate capabilities of a space-based observatory. The ability to directly image
Earth-sized planets around sun-like stars, and to identify which ones might not only have
signatures for life, but might actually be inhabited. There's one telescope designed to
fulfill all of NASA's plans for the top astrophysics missions in the 2030s, and that's the
LUVOIR. The LUVOIR study team has produced designs for two variants, one with a 15.1 meter diameter
telescope mirror, which is LUVOIR-A, and one with an 8 meter diameter mirror, LUVOIR-B. LUVOIR would
be able to observe ultraviolet, visible, and near-infrared wavelengths of light. LUVOIR-A,
previously known as the High Definition Space Telescope, or HDST, is composed of 36 mirror
segments with an aperture of 15.1 meters, or 50 feet in diameter. That means it is 6 times larger
than the Hubble Space Telescope's mirror, and twice the size of the 6.5 meter Webb Telescope.
It will also offer images up to 24 times sharper than the Hubble. LUVOIR-A folds, so it only needs
an 8 meter wide payload fairing. LUVOIR-B, previously known as the Advanced Technology
Large Aperture Space Telescope, or ATLAST, is an 8 meter structure. While smaller than LUVOIR-A,
it's being designed to produce an angular resolution that is 5 to 10 times better than
the James Webb, and a sensitivity limit that is up to 2,000 times better than Hubble.
The current LUVOIR-B architecture adopts James Webb design heritage, essentially being an
incrementally large variant of the James Webb, which has a 6.5 meter segmented main mirror.
In one significant way, LUVOIR is a throwback to Hubble, while NASA's largest space observatory
at the moment James Webb sees primarily in the infrared. LUVOIR, however, will be sensitive in
a broader range of wavelengths, from ultraviolet and visible light to near infrared. That allows
it to see the spectral fingerprints of a wide array of molecules that could suggest biological
processes at work in a distant world. As for expenses, while Webb has cost NASA a whopping
$10 billion, with LUVOIR, it's even doubled. Lifetime cost estimates of $18 billion to $24
billion for LUVOIR-A, and $12 billion to $18 billion for LUVOIR-B. If James Webb was launched
by an Ariane 5 rocket, LUVOIR-A is designed for launch on NASA's planned Space Launch System,
or SLS, while Architecture-B is being designed to launch on a heavy-lift vehicle with a 5-meter
diameter fairing similar to those in use today. With a proposed launch date in the mid-2030s,
this observatory includes upgradable state-of-the-art instruments and would
reside at Earth-Sun-Lagrange-2 point like James Webb. Of course, it all sounds really impressive,
but the most remarkable thing here is that it'll help humanity solve the hidden mysteries
of the universe that we still hold today. First, if scientists really want to find out
if life exists on distant Earth-like planets, they'll eventually need LUVOIR. Scientists believe
that the deluxe version of the observatory could identify and study 54 potentially Earth-like
planets over a 5-year observing period, along with hundreds of other larger planets. With LUVOIR,
scientists will be able to read the contents of exoplanet atmospheres as never before with the
extreme coronagraph for living planetary systems, which will be able to detect compounds such as
oxygen, ozone, water, vapor, carbon dioxide, and methane, which are all crucial components for the
existence of life on those worlds. Secondly, with its size, optical capabilities, and novel
instrumentation, LUVOIR will reveal almost all the objects that Hubble and Webb will overlook.
Reason being is that it can discover objects 40 times fainter than we can presently see.
A huge mirror and broad range of wavelengths will help it study everything from distant galaxies to
objects in our own solar system. For example, LUVOIR would see Jupiter with nearly the same
detail as cameras on board the Juno spacecraft currently in orbit around that planet. It'll find,
measure, and characterize individual stars fainter and farther away than ever before,
including an unprecedented number of galaxies over a billion light-years away.
If you're looking for objects that are faint, far away, small, or otherwise difficult to characterize,
LUVOIR will not only find it if you know where to look, but it can tell you far more about its
Finally, LUVOIR answers the question of, what does a galaxy in the universe look like?
For a galaxy the size of the Milky Way, no matter how distant it is from us,
LUVOIR would show it as at least 400 pixels across, containing over 120,000 pixels of useful,
luminous information in every frame. We could learn how each galaxy we measure rotates,
which regions in every galaxy are actively forming stars, what satellite and dwarf galaxies
are doing out to billions of light-years, and so much more. From objects within our solar system
to exoplanets, stars, galaxies, and the largest cosmic structures of all, LUVOIR would answer
the biggest questions we have about our universe. And that's all the information we have for you
today. If you enjoy what my team and I are doing and would like to continue supporting us in a
way, you can become a patron through our patreon link in the description below. Everyone's support
motivates us to continue delivering quality content and to always improve. And as always,
this is Kevin with GreatSpaceX, and my team and I will see you next time.
