3 ms·
Fascinating video, but honestly the only thought that kept going through my head is: they've overcomplicated this. Despite it's impressive number of steps, th
by ExactoKnight 9y ago
Fascinating video, but honestly the only thought that kept going through my head is: they've overcomplicated this.
Despite it's impressive number of steps, this does not look like good engineering.
Instead, it looks like a design by committee, with engineers going drunk on complex parts coming together rather than dumbing down the unfurling of this telescope down to its most basic possible mechanism, with the fewest moving parts possible (where failure is chronically always possible).
Seeing how overcomplicated this is, it's no surprise it cost $10 billion to build.
- dredmorbius 9y agoI strongly suspect they aren't. You're looking at a high-precision instrument, that's being fit inside a distinctly finite space and mass budget, that will have to operate for years (possibly decades), and which is beyond reach of any conceivable service mission for a very long time. Movement, thermal control (the Webb operates in the low end of the visible spectrum, through the infrared, so its temperature itself is critical), alignment, and drift, all matter. And every piece of equipment has to be tested and trialed to the maximum extent possible. Yes, it's a bit Rube-Goldbergish, but then, so is the specification.