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If launches are expensive (e.g. 400M USD for a Delta IV Heavy launch) then you have to engineer the payload to make it worth that launch cost. It needs to be su
by wcoenen 5y ago
If launches are expensive (e.g. 400M USD for a Delta IV Heavy launch) then you have to engineer the payload to make it worth that launch cost. It needs to be super reliable and last a long time, it needs to provide a lot of value, and you may get only one shot to get it right. There's not going to be a backup James Webb telescope if there's a glitch with the first one.
If launches are cheap (e.g. a few million USD targeted by Starship), you can use more off the shelf hardware and iterate to see what works. Replacing satellites is not such a big deal.