Pocket Review: Meet the largest science project in US government history—the James Webb Telescope

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This project is a combination of scientific ambition and funding politics. Some takeaways:

1. The scientific data is on a propriety period of 1 year before released to public. It’s understandable as the funded projects depend on the telescope, but it might set the first example in which a scientific project is sabotaged.
2. The telescope cannot be serviced nor repaired , unlike Hubble. Hopefully it will last as long.
3. Many mega science projects claimed to be inspirational to the society and humankind, which they oftentimes turned out to be. However, how do we measure this impact? Could we take into account of inspirational value when funding a project? If yes, in what ways can it be done objectively?