A case in technological acceleration: faster communication makes higher resolution telescope

Higher speed communication between parts of a telescope and to scientists enables larger telescopes because “more pixels generate more data, and you have to have way to move more data around.”

The boost in speed makes information processing faster among the James Webb Space Telescope’s (JWST) four science instruments as they “talk” to each other with the SpaceWire network. That means the infrared telescope, NASA’s next great observatory, should capture larger and higher resolution images of space.