Most Expensive Telescopes in the World

Telescopes are important for understanding the cosmos and planets. They are inspiring scientists from generations and centuries throughout the world to spend heavily. Telescopes are not easy to build these days due to tech advancements. They can get really expensive for what it is worth. Mostly they are funded by multiple kinds of sources, including government agencies, research institutes, universities, and commercial entities. Billionaires, having the taste and mind for tech like Jeff Bezos, contribute to telescope investments. Sometimes, they even put their own telescope on the moon for research.

Major astronomical projects, whether space-based or massive ground-based observatories need significant finance for R&D, building, maintenance, and operations. Despite the high expense of these expenditures, the information we get from the telescopes has far-reaching consequences. Here are the top eight most expensive telescope projects in the world.

List of the Most Expensive and amazing Telescopes in the World to Exist

Here is the list of the most pricey telescopes to ever exist in the world till now. Because as our technology grows there will definitely be more like these and who knows how much costlier than these. For now, let’s take a look at these

James Webb Space Telescope –$10 billion

The James Webb Space Telescope is the most expensive telescope ever built. This new telescope, which launched less than a year ago on December 25, 2021, and will start operation on July 12, 2022, has surpassed Hubble’s long-standing record. It was launched from French Guiana aboard an Ariane 5 rocket built by Northrop Grumman, Bail Aerospace, and L3Harris.

The mirror of the James Webb Space Telescope is made up of 18 hexagonal mirrors made of gold-plated beryllium, providing it six times the light-collecting area of Hubble. This enables it to detect light in the visible, ultraviolet, and near-infrared wavelength spectrums. Temperatures below -370 degrees Fahrenheit are required for the telescope. Surprisingly, the telescope cost $9,700,000,000 and it took 30 years to build. NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) collaborated on the project. Read more about the most valuable companies in the world.

Thirty Meter Telescope –$2.65 billion

Imagine a colossal telescope with a whopping 30-meter main mirror, making it one of the largest ground-based telescopes ever conceived. At the helm of this cosmic venture is the TMT International Observatory, a consortium of five major partners: the United States, Japan, Canada, China, and India. Despite challenges, it’s rising in Mauna Kea, Hawaii, and is set to operate by the early 2030s. Spearheading this cosmic quest is the TMT International Observatory, led by major partners. More than a telescope, TMT is a shared vision propelling humanity into a new era of astronomical exploration, fostering collaboration among nations in the pursuit of celestial understanding. Read more about the most luxurious religious artifacts in the world.

Hubble Space Telescope –$2.5 billion

The Hubble Space Telescope was launched in April 1990 and went into service on May 20, 1990. It was built by Lockheed Martin for the spacecraft and Perkin-Elmer for the optics. Hubble symbolizes the pinnacle of space telescope hypotheses suggested as early as 1923. It was ultimately constructed in the 1970s. It is the only known telescope created by astronauts for space maintenance. As part of NASA’s Great Observatories program, the telescope has been repaired or enhanced on five space trips.

Hubble is expected to be operational until the 2030s (the Great Observatories program, which included Hubble, the Spitzer Space Telescope, the Chandra X-ray Observatory, and the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, was launched in the 1990s and early 2000s).

The Hubble Space Telescope was supposed to launch much sooner. However, the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger in January 1986 hampered the expansion of the United States space program and suspended its operations. During the space program’s hiatus, NASA kept the Hubble Space Telescope in a medical-grade clean room disinfected with a solid nitrogen atmosphere. It didn’t go on sale until April 24, 1990.Read more about the top most expensive commercials in the world ever made.

Atacama Large Millimeter Array –$1.4 billion

ALMA, or the Atacama Large Millimeter Array, is made up of 66 radio telescopes that can observe electromagnetic radiation. They were finished in March 2013 for $1.4 billion and are located at an elevation of 16,000 feet on the Chajnantor plateau. As a result, it is the most costly ground telescope ever constructed. ALMA is a collaboration of the United States, Europe, Japan, Canada, South Korea, Chile, and Taiwan. ALMA scientific observations began to be returned in late 2011.

It began full functioning in 2013 and published its 1000th publication in 2018. The telescope is located on the Chajnantor Plateau in the Chilean Andes at a total height of 5,000 meters (16,000 feet). This site was basically selected because of its high altitude and low humidity. These factors are very important for reducing noise and signal weakening caused by the Earth’s atmosphere. Let`s explore the world most expensive computers ever created that pushed the boundaries of innovation.

Very Large Telescope –$1.4 billion

The European Very Large Telescope is a component of the European Southern Observatory that is still under construction. It now costs the maker $1.4 billion, making it the third most costly telescope ever built. It catches 13 times more light than the greatest extant telescopes and has 256 times the light-gathering area of Hubble. The telescope is intended to examine previously undiscovered deep-space objects such as black holes in the Universe’s “dark sector.” It will also be capable of detecting organic compounds like water in freshly formed dust and gas rings known as protoplanetary disks.

Large Synoptic Survey Telescope –$626 million

The LSST, which is based in Chile, was established in 2022 with the goal of conducting a complete survey of the night sky. Because of its huge mirror and sensitive camera, the LSST can record a wide field of view in a single image. The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope is giving researchers a lot of data. It is expected to cost roughly 6 million. With an 8.4-meter mirror, LSST captures high-resolution images and maps the night sky every few nights. 

The National Science Foundation (NSF), the United States Department of Energy (DOE), and foreign partners are working together on this major project. The LSST, which already started full science operations in the mid-2020s. This telescope surely has the potential to substantially expand our understanding of the universe.

Subaru Telescope –$285 million

On the top of Mauna Kea in Hawaii, the Subaru Telescope, part of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ). It is the world’s largest single-aperture optical telescope, with a huge 8.3-meter diameter. This telescope is located in the pure skies of Mauna Kea. This pricey optical telescope has made quite a reputation for itself. The Subaru Telescope project was initiated in the 1980s by the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). The telescope was named after Subaru, the Japanese name for the Pleiades star cluster, which is visible from Hawaii. The first light was obtained on February 19, 1999, and the telescope was inaugurated in 2000.

Gran Telescopio Canarias –$140 million

The Gran Telescopio CANARIAS (GTC) stands as a pinnacle of optical and infrared telescope technology. With a colossal primary mirror made up of 36 hexagonal segments, it functions as a unified mirror, capturing light equivalent to a single mirror with a 10.4m diameter. Positioned at the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory, it boasts a vast light-collecting surface of 75.7 square meters. 

The clever design and active optics of the telescope guarantee great image quality while reducing atmospheric disturbances. The revolutionary design of GTC, which includes adaptive optics, enables real-time adjustments to mitigate air turbulence, pushing the bounds of astronomical study. The GTC’s mount, a massive steel structure, precisely positions the telescope, enabling it to track celestial objects with remarkable accuracy.