Just a thought, won't it be easier, safer, cheaper and faster(development time) to assembly in ISS with multi "shipments" then send off to L2?
The ISS is in low earth orbit. Boosting a telescope from low earth orbit to L2 requires a lot of acceleration so the assembled scope would have to be designed to withstand that acceleration and therefore likely have to be heavier than the current design, requiring even more fuel to push it to L2.
I'd love for one of musk's starships to go up with a pair of really goddamn big mirrors, and a welding torch, and convert a fuel tank into the solar systems' largest (and only) orbital dobsonian scope.also this. no current space vehicle has the kind of capabilities we had with shuttle. it was a semi truck with a crane on it in space. now we really only have about the same capability we had with Apollo, but not enough power to get to the moon with humans and all the stuff they need. Shuttle was something very unique. maybe musk can do a shuttle reboot for his next trick. ha.
to do this in orbit, we would have to design a new from orbit launch system, build that, get it up there, build webb, attach, etc. all on space walks.
actually you would think by now, some private company would come with with a maned craft to maintain and fix satellites that have problems, or we are just really good at building them reliable and its not economically feasible yet to repair them in orbit.
It's not the space shuttle but the Artemis project is supposed to have it's first test flight this year. It's part of the project to get us back to the moon.also this. no current space vehicle has the kind of capabilities we had with shuttle. it was a semi truck with a crane on it in space. now we really only have about the same capability we had with Apollo, but not enough power to get to the moon with humans and all the stuff they need. Shuttle was something very unique. maybe musk can do a shuttle reboot for his next trick. ha.
https://arstechnica.com/science/202...t-which-doubled-the-webb-telescopes-lifetime/The other piece of news, less well-covered but still important, emerged during a news conference on Saturday. NASA's Mission Systems Engineer for the Webb telescope, Mike Menzel, said the agency had completed its analysis of how much "extra" fuel remained on board the telescope. Roughly speaking, Menzel said, Webb has enough propellant on board for 20 years of life.
Deployment completed without a hitch
Another good news
https://arstechnica.com/science/202...t-which-doubled-the-webb-telescopes-lifetime/
that is GD impressive. way to go NASA! They don't get enough press for doing the hard things so much better then they even plan to do them.
Cuneiporn tablets just ain't the same.Would that be the Big BoomerD Bang Sex tape?
Yeah, but will they be able to find Jimmy?Just think, in a few short months, we'll be able to witness the moment of BoomerD's conception.
Over 300 potential failure points. That's a lot of fingers crossed!!!I'm hoping the launch goes well. Would kinda suck for the rocket to blow up
I heard $10 billion.I hate, hate, hate to say this but this bird is so damm complex it might be doomed winding up as a $2 billion paperweight.
L2 is a million miles from earth. They have no way to service it.so if things go wrong, how can they fix it?
There's no more space shuttle to park next to it for astronauts to work on it
Unexpectedly efficient launch is said to leave enough resources to make the 10 year service possibly extend another 10 years.While I grant that Spitzer took some amazingly breathtaking images and showed just how much potential infrared space photography had, my high hopes for Webb are sort of dimmed by the huge cost versus its relatively short service life.
It is indeed very impressive (if it works) for $10 billion.imagine thinking that building an instrument to peer at the literal edges of the observable universe for five to ten years is idiocy. I’d hate to see what such a person considers intelligence. $10 billion is nothing considering the potential of this telescope, total drop in the bucket over the timescale of this project. Less than $100 per taxpayer very well spent.
hopefully it doesnt turn into another bodangle like the F35 joint strike fighter.It is indeed very impressive (if it works) for $10 billion.
Webb is now orbiting L2. Telescope deployment is complete. Ongoing cooldown and instrument turn-on continue. The telescope and scientific instruments started to cool rapidly in the shade of the sunshield once it was deployed, but it will take several weeks for them to cool all the way down and reach stable temperatures. This cooldown will be carefully controlled with strategically-placed electric heater strips. The remaining five months of commissioning will be all about aligning the optics and calibrating the scientific instruments.
went from '5yrs service life to possible 10yrs' to 10yr - 20yr service life?Unexpectedly efficient launch is said to leave enough resources to make the 10 year service possibly extend another 10 years.
Yes, and they got really good numbers from the initial burn to L2, so they have more fuel reserve than they anticipated (or they're at the very high end of projections anyhow). Most of the service life comes down to the fuel reserves.went from '5yrs service life to possible 10yrs' to 10yr - 20yr service life?
4 fold extension?
using worst case scenario as the initial calculations?