> How useful is the JWST's output? Is it any more useful than tanks that sit outside rusting?
What an odd question. Almost anything is more useful and unused military equipment. At the very least the JWST is going to allow many astronomers to publish papers. It may even detect markers of life on other worlds. And there is nothing else that gives us a view into the early universe like the James Webb.
A stockpile of tanks, fighter planes, and ICMBs deters a whole lot of aggression without being used. I think people who have only ever known relative global stability don’t appreciate what it will look like if the US dramatically reduces its military capability and oppressive dictatorships rush to fill the void.
Laughs in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar, UAE, Turkey, Pakistan, and all the military juntas instigated by the US in Latin America. US has no problem with oppressive dictatorships as long as they cooperate.
What an odd question. Almost anything is more useful and unused military equipment. At the very least the JWST is going to allow many astronomers to publish papers. It may even detect markers of life on other worlds. And there is nothing else that gives us a view into the early universe like the James Webb.